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1780. jX 1880. 

^ THE 

Pioneers of Nashville, 

AND OF TEMESSEE! 

WHO THEY WERE! 

WHERE THEY CAME FROM ! 
HOW THEY GOT HERE! 
WHAT THEY ACHIEVED! 

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO! 



"honor to M'HOiH HONOR IS DUK." 



A Historical Novel of Narrative, about the first Settlers 
of this Commonwealth in 1780. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED : 

An Historical Sketch about Robertson's and Donaldson's Ex- 
ploits and Adventures in the Foundation 
on the Cumberland. 



A Contribution to the Celebration of our Centennial 
In 1880. 



By CH AS. MAY. 



Nashville American Print. 



T43h 



Copyriglit Secured. 






INTRODUCTION. 



In this our Centennial year the history of the first Settlers becomes 
of necessity, a theme of recollection and veneration. We otifer these few 
pages as a little contribution with that intention. 

The pluck, achievements and struggles of our Forefathers are full of 
intense Interest to us. By their valor and virtue they deserve to be held 
np to the wondering gaze and admiration of their descendants, and all 
who are now benefitted by their institution. 

We owe them a debt of gratitude for their labors and perseverance. 

This is the Hundreth Anniversary of the laying of the corner-stona of 
Nashville, Robertson and Donaldson meeting on the 24th of April, 1780. 
Indissolubly connected with the history of its Capitol is the history of 
the State. 

What immense changes have taken place these hundred years ! It 
now does not take as many datjs to travel through the whole length of 
the State as it took our Founders months to get from Watauga to the 
Bluff ! 

We refer the kind reader for a complete history of the subject to Hay- 
wood, Bancroft and Martin, but especially to Ramsey's Annals of Ten- 
nessee, from which these pages were partly copied and condensed. 

We do not pretend to give a full history of Nashville, since that would 
rake a volume; but in the words of Ramsey, "leave that duty to some 
admiring and grateful citizen of Nashville." 

The first part of this pamphlet is a historical drama or novelette on 
the subject, partly fiction, partly matters of fact. 

The second part, a short sketch of the history of Nashville, offers 
ample proof that the lives of these Pioneers were thoroughly full of ex- 
citing romance and adventure. 



CH^R^OTEKS. 



Settlers. 



Col. Robertson, Founder of Nashville. 

Col. Donaldson, his Associate. 

John Donaldson, the latter' s Brother. 

Mrs. Robertson. 

Bessie, their Daughter. 

Mansco, 

Eaton. 

Wells. 

Winters. 

Stump. • 

Jennings. 

Pat .Quigly. 

Jonathan, afminy character. 

John Bull, a Henglishman. 

Monsieur Charleville, a French Trader. 

Mrs. Dunham. 

Mary, her Daughter. 

A Negro Man and Woman. 

Moytoy, affiendly Cherokee Chief. 

Chulloculla, a hostile Cherokee Chiefs 

Attaculla, his Brother. 

ToKA, Chief of the Creek Indians. 

Raven, another Creek Indian. 

Big Foot, a funny Indian. 

A Squaw with Her Boy. 

Several' other Ladies and Children. 



PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE, 



CHAPTER I. 



AT WATAUGA. 



Country people standing and sitting around; children 

playing; men smoking; one on guard against the Indians; 

negro woman nursing baby; negro man cleaning rifle. 

Jonathan. Man approachin' ! Wall, I'll be 
darn', if that's one of our men ; he must be a stranger. 
{Loud.) Halt there! what's your flag? {Here all 
pimped up. ) 

Robertson (enters.) Why, Jonathan, don't you 
know me any more ? I am — 

Jon. Wall, I'll be darn', if it hain't Roberta 
son comin' back from prospectin' for a new location 
for a settlement ! Where did you leave your com 
rades ? Where is Mansco ? Did the redskins not 
take your scalps? how did you- — (shaking hands.) 

Rob. Hold on, ask me one at the time, and 
maybe I'll answer. 

Jon. Good, I'm satisfied with that. 

(Meanwhile settlers sw'round him, saying:) 



8 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

All. Welcome back to Watauga ! How did your 
expedition turn out ? 

Eaton. Did you find a good place for another 
station ? 

Wells, flow far did you get ? 

Winters. Why, it is six months since you started! 

Jennings. Shake hands, old chum ! 

Rob. I'm now very tired, but to satisfy your 
curiosity, I'll sit down and tell you my adventures in 
very few words. {Stfs doum.) 

The route, which we pursued, both going there 
and coming back, was by Cumberland Gap, and the 
Kentucky trace to Whitley's Station, on Dick's 
River ; thence to Carpenter's Station, on the waters 
of Green River ; thence to Robertson's Fork, on the 
north side of that stream ; thence down the river to 
Pitman's Station ; thence crossing over to Little Bar- 
ren at Elk Lick ; thence passing the Blue Spring over 
to Big Barren ; thence up to Drake's Creek to Maple 
Swamp ; thence to Red River at Kilgore's Station ; 
thence to a creek which we named after Mansco, 
and from there to French Lick. 

This journey was a long one — 

Jon. There must have been a long time be- 
tween drinks ? — 

{Robertson turns around frowning.) 

Excuse me for not interrupting you sooner ; 
your story was a dry one. Now I must ask you a 



AND OF TENNESSEE. , 9 

question. Do you know what the Governor of 
South Carolina said to the Governor of North Caro- 
lina ? 

Mansco. Get out with your foolishness ! 

Rob. We were often tired to death. But at last 
we reached a place in a rich country nearly clear of 
large trees, which formerly had been occupied by a 
French trader from Crozat's colony at New Orleans. 
His store was built on a mound, on the west side of 
Cumberland River, near what we now call French 
Lick Creek, about seventy yards from each stream. 
The place is deserted now. There is a high bluff on 
the river, and a hill near it commands the surround- 
ing lands; it is easily defended against an enemy. 
The ground is mostly rich, and just the thing we 
want for planting corn and raising cattle. ^ 

Jon. I wonder if that part of the country is also 
subject to the Governor of North Carolina, like ours 
here, — 

Man. {I'uns after him. ^ Will you hush? 

Rob. After staying there a number of days and ex- 
amining the surroundings ; after resting for some 
time, we started for home again. 

And now my friends, I think we have one of the 
finest places to form a new settlement. I propose 
that we start for there, this winter yet. ( They all be- 
come restless.) Let us see if any of you will join our 
expedition ? I will retiurn the same way we came. 



10 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Donaldson. Some of our men and most of our 
women cannot travel so far by land. It v/ould kill 
them. So I propose that most of us go aboard of 
boats, which we will float down the river, at least as 
far as to the Muscle Shoals in the Tennessee River. 
There we may cross over land to French Lick. 

Rob. Suppose you take your "good boat Adven- 
ture/"' and as many more boats as are necessary to 
carry you all ; and you be the Captain ? 

All. Yes, yes, let him be the captain. 

Eat. I and my family will go by land, it issafer, 

Jen. My friends and I will join Donaldson on 
the boat; I like to row. 

Don. By the way, how is Robertson's family ? 

Jon. Bessie, you mean ? 

(^Donaldson wants to strike hhn.) 

Why do you hit me ? Because I made love 
to her when you were gone ? But here she comes. 
Now ask her ! 

(JMeamvJiile the others talk together. ) 

Rob. So let us go and get ready for the journey. 
( They withd7^aw, except Don. and Bessie who holds his 
hand. ) 

Jon. So they all start? Ye think I'll be left ? I'll 
be darned if I do. I beHeve I'll go and take care of 
Donaldson, so that Bess won't have to cry ! 

Exit. 

Bessie. How long a time it was that you were 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 11 

away I And now are you scarcely back to me, you 
want to leave again ? Oh, dear ! Can it be, that you 
and I must part ? Can't you give up your course by 
water, and join my father's band for love of me ? 
Must it come to separation ? Would that I had not 
seen this heartrending hour ! 

Don. No, Bessie, it would not do ! I must not 
deprive my comrads of a leader. I am an exper- 
ienced boatman to whom alone the course of the 
vessels can be confided. I have made such trips be- 
fore, as you know. 

Bes. Dear me ! I have a presentiment that 
some misfortune will happen that will separate us for- 
ever, and I will see thee no more. (S/ie cries,) 

Don. , {Embracing her.) Fear not dearest, the 
darkest hour of all is just before the dawn. I feel it, 
that the Providence of God will bring us to meet 
again ; will you then be my darling wife, after we are 
reunited ? 

Bes. Yes, love, with all my heart. 

Don. So keep this ring from me and wear it 
always. {^They kiss one another.^ 

Bes. Farewell, dearest. 

E^N. Good-bye, love. 

Jon. {Had overheard this parting; now he comes for- 
ward and mocks them saying: That kiss sounded like 
the noise that is heard if a cow has stepped in the- 
mud and now pulls the hoof out again, etc., etc. 



12 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

2. 
THE EMIGRANTS START FROM WATAUGA. 

Don. Now, my friends, it is time for us to enter 
this good boat "Adventure." May heaven protect 
us and lead us to our destination. 

Rob. Good speed and take courage. 

Don. As you proceed by the way of Kentucky 
to the Big Salt Lick on the Cumberland, come across 
with some of your men to the Muscles Shoals in 
Tennessee River over in Alabama, there to make 
such signs that we might know you had been there, 
and that it will be practicable for us to go across there 
by land. 

Rob. We will do that. Let you be cautious, and 
no misfortune will befall you ! {^Orie party goes to the 
boat and on board, the others go to the opposite side. 
Many weep at parting. Jonathan also went. They 
say : Farewell, perhaps to meet no more; farewell, 
perhaps forever. Parents embrace children, sons and 
daughters their fathers and mothers, husbands their wives. 
Good-bye. Hurrah !) 

After they are all departed, Jonathan is seen to come 
in once more, saying: O ! I always thought I'd forget 
something, but I couldn't for the world remember 
what it was. But now I have it. Here it is. {Goes 
back in the cabin and takes a bottle out. He starts with 
the others.) ^^^- 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 13 

3. 

IN THE WILDERNESS. 

Indians around a Camp Fire. 

Scout. {Yelling.^ Halloo! Paleface coming 
this way, ten times ten {showing all his fingers) invade 
our hunting ground, to break our wigwam, to steal 
our squaw and to kill our pappoose. Will our In- 
dian brothers let them do that ? Will we fight and 
kill pale face? 

Chulloculla {gets up.) Cherokee hear scout. 
Indians not let white men come. Up, warriors, vic- 
tory or death ! 

Warriors. Much good! Me kill stranger! 
{They start in single file ^ cautiously) 

Ch. Hide yourselves behind trees in ambush. 

After some time our emigrants (over land) came 
along ^ As soon as they are all in sight, (Bessie and 
a little hoy in the rear) I?idians fire, yell a war- 
hoop and rush upon them. Much confusion ensues. 
Travelers gather and return the fire. Bessie and 
the hoy are cut off from the party. Chulloculla and 
another Indian reach and capture them. She 
screams and struggles to get loose, hut the savages 
carry them off. Some whites fall down dead or 
wounded, some Indians likewise ; one of the latter 
scalps a man. Finally they escape in a hurry. 



14 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Meanwhile some whites run after the chief and Bes- 
sie^ to her rescue. Travelers Mil the disabled In- 
dians. After that they look around if anybody is 
missing. 

Rob. Where is my daughter Bessie ? 

Man. She was in the rear of our train when I 
last saw her. She was tired and going lame. 

Eat. I saw that Cherokee devil jumping upon 
her, knock her down and drag her away. I shot at 
him, but must have missed him. 

Rob. What ? for heaven's sake ! can that be ? 
Which way did they flee with her ? 

Eat. This way. 

Rob. Up ! Let us pursue the infernal rascals and 
not return till our bullets have reached those robbers ! 

( T/te women nurse the wounded and weep over the 
dead. ) 

Mrs. Rob. Oh ! what terrible misfortune has 
befallen us ! Would to God, that we never had 
entered this wilderness ! Woe to me, my child, my 
only child ! Fallen into the hands of these brutes ! 
Heaven, hear the prayer of a bereaved mother, and 
deliver my child from a lot which is worse than 
death ! 

Lady. Have confidence in God, my dear. It is 
not yet all lost. Our men have gone to her rescue. 
After some time R. and the others came back. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 15 

Mrs. Rob. O, where is my daughter ? 

Rob. It was impossible to follow them. They 
retreated over yonder stony bluff, where we could 
see no trace whatever. Our torches gave out. We 
must give up pursuit now, before we are attacked 
again by some other band of redskins. After we 
have arrived at our destination and the women and 
children are in safety, we will come back here to ex- 
terminate them. 

Mrs. Rob. O God, O God ! help my unfortunate 
child! 

Jon, who had hid himself iyi a thicket when 
the Indians came, now crawls out, and looks around 
cautiously. When he sees that there is no 7nore 
danger, takes out his bottle and gives the wounded 
to drink, saying: Didn't the Governor say, there 
was a long time * * * * At last he knocks the 
bottle to pieces over the head of one of the dead In- 
dians. 

ARRIVAL AT THE FORT. 

Settlers siting around. 

Wells. So we are here now, at last, and safe. 

Eat. Thanks be- to God. This was an awful 
march, ninety day's journey in the wilderness, over 
mountains, hills and rocks, through swamps, rivers 
and weeds, traveling all day and having no rest at 



16 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

night for fear of the Indians. And such rough 
weather and such an intense cold, as our oldest men 
do not recollect. All the rivers frozen over, and 
ever so deep a snow lying on the ground now as long 
as we were on our way! But this is no M^onder as 
we have Mr. Winter (turning to the gentleman of 
that na'me) with us all the way. 

Win. You may well jest now, since we have 
built this fine log house and ever so warm a fire in it. 
But we must soon leave all this comfort again to fight 
the Indians, who have captured Bessie Robertson. 

Set. I wonder if Col. Donaldson and his crew 
are aUve yet, as it seems they never will come? 

Eat. I was away down the river to-day, but 
have seen and heard nothing of them. I believe now 
we must give them up for lost ! 

Wel. No, no ! Do not speak such terrible 
words ! I hope and pray, Almighty God will pro- 
tect our wives and children and kinfolks on the 
boats. 

Win. I have a presentiment that will we hear of 
them soon. I will go down the river once more ; but 
if my inspiration is not verified this time, I will be- 
lieve in presentiments no longer. 

Set. They must suffer terribly from exposure 
to ,snow and cold, and to the bullets and arrows of 
the savages. (A shot is heard in the distance.) 

Eat. Hark ! What was that ? A cannon shot ? 



AND OF TENNESSEE. l7 

{Another shot is heard nearer,) Another? That's 
nothing else than Donaldson and his crew! {They 
start up.) 

The boat ^'•Adventure'" is seen rowing up. Ihey 
meet the crew, who jump out, embrace each one of 
their families ; they laugh and weep for joy alter- 
nately. Some shout : The good boat ''Adventure." 
others : welcome, — greeting, — hurrah, — good luck. 
Well done — welcome to French Lick our new home — 
hurrah for the heroes ! 

(Jonathan greets them with his bottle.) 

They inarch up, (fife and drum ahead,) in proces- 
sion, all jubilant, singing ^^ Sweet Bye and Bye," etc. 

Jon. 'Haint that like the ship "Pinafore?" 

5. 

NARRATIVE OF THE ' 'ADVENTURE." 

{Don. Stands up ; the others sitting around.) 
Rob. Now, as your struggles are over, do tell us 
your adventures up and down the rivers. 

Don. Took our departure from the Fort at 
Watauga, Dec. 22, last year, and fell down the river 
to the mouth of Reedy Creek. The frost was most 
excessively hard, as you recollect. One day we had 
lost Harrison, who had gone a huntmg. After firing 
many guns to fetch him in, we found him again the 
third day. Capt. Hutchin's nigger died, having 



18 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

frosted his feet and legs. E. Peyton's wife was de- 
vered of a child. Indians invited us to a village 
where they massacred poor Stuart, his family and 
friends, 28 in number, who had to be singled off in 
the rear, because they were afflicted with smallpox. 
We heard their pitiful cries. Again a boat sank, and 
as we bailed her, the Indians nearly ruined our whole 
expedition, firing on us in great numbers from a bluff 
above|us. 

Jon. Here I come in without leave, and 
that's what I always say, there is a long time — 
(^Gries: Spank him, take him out ! 

Don. So we came down Holston and Ten- 
nessee rivers. We had lost Jennings' boat, perhaps 
to be slaughtered by the merciless enemy, but next 
day he came up to us, after having lost 'his nigger, 
all his cargo and a man ; his boat, his and his wife's 
clothes being riddled by the Indian's bullets. 

At the Muscles Shoals we vainly looked for the 
marks that you had promised to put there, to invite 
us to cross over on the land. The waters roared ter- 
ribly, and driftwood was heaped around. The cur- 
rents ran in all directions. Here we did not know 
how soon we would be dashed to pieces, and all our 
troubles ended at once. We knew not the length of 
the shoal; they say it is 25 or 30 miles, but we passed 
it in three hours. 

Jen. The 20th of February, we arrived at 



AND OP TENNESSEE. 19 

the mouth of the Tennessee. Our situation was des- 
perate. We were worn down by hunger and fatigue, 
the current was rapid, our boats not constructed to 
stand a strong current, and now we had to row up 
the stream. We knew not the distance we had to 
go, nor how much longer it would take us. Several 
t)oats would not proceed with us, but were bent to 
Mississippi or Illinois. They part, perhaps to see us 
no more. Happen what will, we were determined to 
pursue our course. 

Don. Friday, 24th, we came to the mouth 
of a river, which we took to be the Cumberland, but 
were not certain. Some said it could not be it. It 
was so much smaller than we expected. We ven- 
tured to make the trial. We suffered much from 
hunger 'and fatigue. Next day we knew it was the 
Cumberland. Killed a swan and some buffalo. 
Gathered some herbs. Friday 31st, we met Col. 
Henderson, who was running the line between Vir- 
.ginia and North Carolina. 

Jon. That's my place, ^nd here is to the Governor! 

Don. He gave us all information and prom- 
ised us some seed corn. Now we are here. 

All. Hail ye heroes, heavenborn band ! Hurrah ! 



20 PIONEEES OF KASHVILLE 



CHAPTER II. 
I. 

AT THE BLUFF. 

{Mrs. Rob. and Don. standing, the rest sitting J) 

Don. I almost forgot ! Where's Bessie ? 

Mrs. Rob. We have lost her ! 

Don. What? lost her? how? where? 

Mrs, Rob. A frightful misfortune has befallen 
us! I cannot tell you. Grief almost breaks my 
heart! 

Don. Oh ! woe to me ! How can it be ? {crying.) 
She had a presentiment when we started that she 
would not see me any more. Alas ! that it should be 
verified so soon ! But how was it ? 

Mrs. Rob. It was March 3d, early in the morn- 
ing, when the Cherokees, who had laid in ambush„ 
surprised us, firing from all bushes, killing and 
scalping six of our men. Bessie then was a little 
in the rear, when three of the red devils captured 
her. It was heartrenting to hear her cries. 
{Ladies Weep.) 

Don. God damn the red skins ! Have you no 
news what became of her ? They didn't kill her? 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 2i 

Mrs. Rob. No, but what is worse than death, 
Chiilloculla, the chief, wants to make her his squaw. 
The boy whom they robbed with her, escaped them 
and reached us. 

Don. Death and hell upon these Cherokees ! 
Rise, comrades, up and against them ! May this, 
my right arm wither if I rest before I have dispatched 
them to the infernal regions ! 

Mrs. Rob. My husband went back in search of 
her. As he alone was powerless against the whole 
band, he took a great many articles for presents with 
him which the Indians like, such as rifles, knives, 
blankets and whisky. 

Jon. There he done me a great wrong in taking 
that from nie, and to the Governor of North Carolina 
too. 

(^One of the men strikes him.) 

Don. Have you no news from him ? 

Mrs. Rob. Yes, sir ! A friendly Creek Indian 
brought us this letter from him. 

Don. Who is the carrier ? I want to see him. 
(^Big Foot Indian comes in.) 

Don. Are you the Creek Indian ? 

Big F. Me be a Creek Indian. 

Don. What is your name ? 

B. F. Big Foot, the Cherokee Killer. 

Don. Who gave you that name ? 

B. F. Every one that know^me. 



22 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE ' 

Don. How many Cherokees did you kill already? 

B. F. Me — me — Cherokee tremble, me come. 

Don. I don't think you deserve that name then. 

B. F. See rifle, bow and arrows, spear and toma- 
hawk. Bear see me and fly. Even Massa Rob. call 
me so. 

Don. Tell me something about Robertson. 

B. F. Me been at Quorina, where I led a band 
of Chickasaw Indians to Drake's Creek. You know^ 
me be great leader of Indians. 

Don. Do you tell the truth. Big Foot ? 

B. F. {Proudly.^ Me tell no lie — except — I 
must. 

Don. That I believe. Now tell me through 
which settlements and Indian villages must we pass ? 

B. F. Kilgrove Station to Red River, Maple 
Swamp, Drake's Creek. 

Don. How long will it take us to get there ? 

B. F. That many suns. {Holds up three fingers. ) 

Don. I suppose you are right. Now tell me 
where Robertson is ? 

B. F. Massa Robertson find me at Drake's Creek. 
He be my brother, give me much present and that 
letter, send me here to tell you where Bessie be. 

Don. Where can I meet him ? 

B4F. Near a big rock on the creek. 

{Raven, a Cherokee, comes in boldly, looks around say- 
ing nothing. Big Foot stands back.) 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 23 

Mrs. Rob. Speak to him Don.; he is the Chero- 
kee, who came here regarding Bessie. 

Raven. How d'ye! 

Don. {Short.) How d'ye! 

R. You not be my man. 

Don. You have no business with any other! 

R. Me no come to see you f 

Don. Then you better go out! 

R. [Ttirns around to go ; so does Don. Raven conies 
back, says : Sirrha ! {Don. goes on. ) 

R. ^Louder) Sirrha ! 

Don. ( Turns his head only ;) What else ? 

R. Me speake to you. 

Don. Then be polite, or I'll throw you out. What 
is your name ? 

R. Me be Raven, Cherokee nation. 

Don. Who sent you here ? 

R. Chulloculla, great chief of Cherokee. 

Don. Was he the chief who captured Bessie ? 

R. It was he. 

Don. Why does he not give her free ? has he not 
received a ransom twice a]ready? 

R. Chief has many warriors, all want rifles, 
knives, blankets and firewater. 

Jon. That's what I want, too ; this is what the 
Governor of South Carolina meant — 

Man. Knock that fool down ! 

Don. Your chief is a liar and a thief, his tongue is 



24 PIONEEES OF NASHVILLE 

double like the serpent's. You will get no ransom 
any more. 

R. Then Betsie will be squaw of chief or die. 

Don. He will not give her up this time either 
although we send him ransom again, ^ 

R. Chief be good, let Betsie go. 

Don. Do you speak the truth ? Swear by the 
Great Spirit ! 

R. M — -e — e no swear. 

Don. Then you are a liar and a thief 1 

R, {^Draws his knife.) You pale face son of a 
bitch ! 

Don. {^Knocked, him dcnvn.) Down, Indian dog ! 
{Mrs. Rob. and ladies shrieking.) 

Don. Tie his hands and feet and keep him cap- 
tive. 

(yPat Quigley conies in; takes a hold of Raven.) 

Pat. Faith an' be jabers, hand him to me ! It is 
the likes of me that can clinch him ! 

Don. Oh ! there is Pat ; welcome here on the 
Bluff. 

Pat. I hear you going to rescue Bessie ; kin I 
go along ? 

Don. Certainly, Pat; I'm glad if you do. 

Pat. Does this Indian with his armory go with 
us? 

Don. Yes, sir ! He will be our guide. 

Pat. Hurrah ! I Hkes him ! Begoorah, I'm 



AND OF TENNESSEE. Z 

gleed that I kin go to fight ag'in. {Leaps a?id dances 
for joy.) 

Jon. Pat, lets you and me go in partnership ; sup- 
pose you be Governor of South CaroUna, etc. , etc. 
( They all start to go. ) 

Exetmt. 



AT AN INDIAN CAMP. 

Chulloculla afid Bessie. 

Ch. {Chulloculla drags Bessie in by the hand ; she 
struggles agaifist it.) Now white squaw be in my 
power ! 

Bes. • I know it, miserable wretch; you have robbed 
me from my father and mother. How would you 
feel if the whites had captured your daughter ? Let 
me go back then, otherwise their warriors will come 
and kill you to make me free. 

Ch. Me no will. You must be my squaw ! 

Bes. {Scornfully.'y No, never, never! you rascal, 
you thief, you murderer ! {Ju7nps at him.) 

Ch. {Throws her down ; she falls on her knees.) 
Be quiet or me kill you ! 

Bes. Rather die than be the wife of an Indian 
hound. Let me alone ! 

Ch. Come and be my squaw, otherwise I will 
force you to be my slave. {Hugs her.) 



26 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Bes. {Shfteks.) Help, help ! {T7ies to escape.^ 

Ch. There be nobody to help you. {Laughing.) 
Will you be my mistress and have all my other squaws 
for your slaves, all my ponies to ride on, all my 
trinkets that I robbed from white man for your own, 
and my heart, (kneels doimi before her) for your love ? 

Bes. No, no, a thousand times no ! Do you see 
this ring ! My heart and hand are engaged to a 
white chief. (^Sftatches his knife fi'om hivi ; tries to stab 
Mm.) Die from^'my hand, as my heart despises you! 
{Ke catches up her 'arm and takes knife from her. 
He gets up. She scratches and beats him, and bites 
Mm in the arm., when he holds her hands tight, she 
kicks him.) 

Bes. God Almighty come to my assistance 
against this devil. (Shrieks.) Help, help ! 

Attaculla. {Comes in.) She no want to be 
squaw of chief? She want to be my squaw then. 
(Interferes, holds her down.) Me be brother to 
Chulloculla. 

Bes. What ? You infernal scoundrel ! (Spits 
in his face.) Begone ! 

Scout. (Comes in a hurry; shouts: Creek 
warriors coming, catch your ponies ! Our braves 
meet them ! 

{Chulloculla binds her hands together and drags 
her in the fort. Returns.) 

Up, warriors ! Upon them ! Exeunt, 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 27 



AT A TRADING STATION. 

A Trader, his Wife and a Negro seated. 
(Enters Don. an-d party.) 

Don. Good evening, friends ! Can we stay here 
over night and have something to eat? We are 
coming from French Lick to-day, and are very tired. 

Jon. I'm in for something to drink, rather 

Charleville. (Getting up,) You gome from 
le Bluff? Welcome! Dot's de blace I used 
to sday. Mahree, go to make subber for dem. 
I guess you go back to Watauga? 

Don. No, Monseur! We go to Drake's Creek 
to punish the Cherokees for robbing Bessie Robert- 
son from our train. 

Charl. Dot's right ; kill dem all. As for me, I 
am a trader, an' canno' shoot. I have some gattle 
and ship (sheep) here, but dere is a pear (bear) in de 
neighborhood, dot I canno gheep (keep) from steal- 
ing my ship. 

Don. I have a talisman against all beasts of prey. 

Charl. What is it ? 

Don. (Takes rijie and aims at him.) This is it 



28 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Charl. {Fleeing.) For God's saghe, flee, he is 
insane ! 

Don. No sir ! I'm not insane, but you are a 
coward. Show me your sheep- pen ! 

Ch. Bag (back) here. The bear ghills {kills) an' 
eats a ship every night. (£>, turns to go.) 

Jon. Stay here, or the bear will eat you too, and 
have nothing except your boots j 

Don. If he should eat you, he'd leave nothing 
except your whisky bottle. 

Pat. Let me go with ye, it is the likes of me, as 
kin kill beers. 

Don. No, Pat ; you are no hunter and would only 
expose our lives and be in my way. 

(Pat. wants logo with thetn, but Dofi. keeps him back. 
Donaldson takes rifle; it is dark; men go in cabin. 
Don. steps on tiptoe., hides hi??iself and waits. After a 
while the bear is heard grunting. Conies up close where 
Don. is. He shoots, and bear rolls on the ground howl- 
ing. Another bear is heard in the distance, coining up. 
Don. scarcely has time to load his gun, 7&hen the bear 
hugs him. He draws his knife and kills him after a 
wrestle. He goes back to cabin. Men come out, not 
seeing bears.) 

Jon. You've done a good thing, you've scared 
the bear, that he won't come to-night to eat sheep. 

Don. But Mrs. Bear has come and her husband 
too. But now they axe lying side by side. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 29 

Charl. Do you spick {speak) the droot? (truth). 

Don. Look here, Jon. My boots are not hurt. 
My talisman has worked wonders. Now, take the 
skins. 

Pat. Faith and bigorrah, what a baste! [beast) 
me rifle would have shaked ! 

Jon. (Jon. and Fat. quarrel for the skins.) Give it 
to me! 

Pat. The likes of me as shall have it ! 

Jon. My boss killed the bear, I was with him. 

Pat. Be jabers, you shan't. (They both pull hard ^ 
at last both fall to the ground. ) 

B. F. There are the tow governors, one from 
South Carolina and the other from North Carolina 

4. 

in the wilderness. 

The Duel. 
(Don. espies tracks on the ground, follows them and dis- 
covers Toka ; he stops him crying; Halt, red man; 

Toka looks around.) 

Don. Will red man be pale face's brother ? 

Toka. What be your name ? 

Don. Donaldson, and we come from French 
Bluff. 

Toka. Are you brother to Robertson ? 

Don. Yes, I am ! Have you seen him ? 

Toka. Me seen him. Rob sent me to you. 



^0 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Don. Where is he at ? 

ToKA. He be by Drake's Creek, he make marks 
there for his white brother. 

Don. Then thanks be to the Great Spirit that I 
saw your track, otherwise you would have missed me. 

ToKA. Toka find white brother any way ; me 
want drink water, me come back to buffalo path, see 
your track there and follow you to see if brother or no. 

Don. What's your name ? 

ToKA. Me have no name. Me name be buried 
under ground of my wigman, till me fulfill which me 
have sworn by the Great Spirit ; call me Toka, father 
without sons. 

Don. Have they killed your sons ? 

Toka. That muchee sons {holding up 3 fingers), 
as high as tree, brave as chiefs. Me find them dead 
and scalped. 

Don. Who has killed them 

Toka. ChullocuUa, Cherokee Chief. He steal 
my ponies to carry his robbers, my skins to make 
them mocasins. But me rifle has killed so much 
{showing three fingers') of his warriors, my arrow so 
much {four fingers) and my knife so much {six 
fingers). But the devil is with him that my eye could 
not see him and my hand not get him. But he will 
go to hell anyway, you and Robertson hold together. 
Bullet of Robertson never missee. Cherokee fear 



AKD OF TENNESSEE. SI 

him. He come and go but be invisible. Hear his 
rifle and tremble. Warrior no catch him. 

Don. How far is it yet to Drake's Creek ? 

ToKA. That muchee suns (2 fingers). {Here they 
meet the others again. Don. tur7is to them. ) 

Don. This is Toka, a Creek brave, our scout 
now. 

B. F. {Angrily). What? he know better than 
me? 

ToKA. {Looks at B. F. scornfully). You be 
squaw ! 

B. F. Me kill so much bear. (2 fingers). Me 
will lead Massa, but you hang to tail of my pony. 

ToKA. {Wants, to shoot him, others interfere.) 
What be your name ? 

B. F. • Greater than number of your fathers, and 
longer than your memory — Big Foot, the Cherokee 
Killer. 

Toka. You insult me. I have satisfaction. Me 
fight an Indian duel with you ! Do as I do. {He 
draws his knife, squats davon^ puts his knife to the 
calf of his leg and knocks it in with his fist.) Me 
no kill squaw ; do same as me. 

B. F. Me have no time to squat down, me must go. 

Don. We have plenty of time for a duel, to see, 
who is the bravest. Squat down too, and do the same 
as he does. 

{Big Foot squats down reluctantly and slowly. 



32 PIONEERS OP NASHVILLE 

takes his knife trembling^ grunts and moans, but does 
not stick it in. Pat comes behind him, and knocks it 
in with all his might, B. F. jumps up, yells terribly:) 
Be you mad? what be my leg for you? You louse, 
you flea, you groundhog, you pisscat ! 

Pat. Faith an' be jabers, the knife must come out 
again, {pulls it out; B. F. hovels loud, writhing 
with pain; falls down fainting. Others laugh 
heartily ; one of them bandages his leg.) 

Jon. (Gomes and gives him to drink, saying :) 
Here is the Governor, as I always say. 



THEY MEET ATTACULLA. 

The same. 

ToKA. Here me see much tracks of horse. 

Don. {Coming up) Sure enough; in this wilder- 
ness! They must be whites, for their horses were 
shod. They were going that way into the swamps. 

ToKA. They cannot get through there. From 
what they have thrown away here, it is certain, that 
they are tired to death, otherwise they would not have 
dropped such valuable articles. 

Pat. The train must have lost their way, bedad, 
I think they are of our paple. 

ToKA. Me suppose, Indian get them in ambush. 

Don. Hurry up then, that we may reach and 
warn them. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 33 

( They haste and find a train of whites^ led by an 
Englishman.) 

Don. Who is the leader of this train ? 

Ans. Give us to eat, we are starving, for all our 
ammunition is gone. (They give them to eat.) This 
Englishman is our leader. (All gather around.) 

John Bull. I am the leader. What do you 
want ? 

Don. Where are you coming from, and where 
going ? 

J. Bull. Must you know it ? 

Don. Have you reason, not to tell me ? 

J. B. (^Hesitating) N-o, we are going to French 
Lick. 

Don. Is that your direction ? Your course leads 
east into the swamps, whereas Salt Lick lies west. 

J. B. You are a liar, Fr. Lick is east. 

Don. Look here, you scoundrel, if you give me 
the lie, I'll thrash you like a spaniel. 

J. B. (Wants to shoot him, others check Mm.) 
Go to hell! 

ToKA (aside to Bon) Me beheve he be traitor, an 
agent of the English, and wants to lead this train in 
ambush to the Indian Cherokees, to rob and kill 
them, if they are nearly starved and out of powder. 

(Here two more Cherokees come, Attaculla and 
Baven, who had made good his^jescape from the 
Bluff. They do not see Don and his party at first.) 



34 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Attaculla. Welcome, brothers ; who is the leader 
of this train ? 

J, B. I am, my friend. We are going to French 
Lick. 

Atta. Well, me go there, me go along. 

Raven (sees Don.~\ Do you know me? 

Don. Yes, I know you ; who is your companion ? 

Atta. You struck this brave man ? He was a 
messenger ; you must die ! 

Don. He insulted me, and I punished him justly. 

ToKA. (Aside to Don.) He is Attaculla, brother 
of Chulloculla. 

Atta. This train will be in French Lick to-mor- 
row. 

Don. No, it will not, this Englishman is a traitor, 
he leads you in a false direction and into the swamp, 
there the Cherokee will lay in ambush — 

Atta. You lie ! 

Don. I dare you to call me a liar, or — [fakes Ms 
Iznife; Big Foot and Jona. hide themselves}) 

Atta. Serpent ! Your tongue is poison ! You lie! 
{takes his rifle to shoot Don. but Don. had anticipated 
this, raises his pistol and shoots Atta. ) . 

Don. You are ChuUoculla's brother ; Fm Bessie's 
bridegroom. Go to hell and announce it to Satan, 
that your whole band will follow. (Atta. falls down 
dead. Toka scalps him. ) 

Don. Come here now friends, and let us judge 



AND OF TENNESSEE. ~ 35 

this man, John Bull. {They surround him. Big 
Foot, who had hid himself; now comes tip and posts him- 
self before John Bull, saying-) Look at me, speak 
the truth and tell me no lie, otherwise my tomahawk 
will eat you up, you murderer, you robber, you liar, 
you — you — 

Don. You answer me now ! Did you want to 
lead this train in an ambush ? 

J. B. I am a subject of King George, to whom 
this colony belongs, and I acknowledge no judge but 
him. 

Don. You were going to take these men into 
death ; blood for blood, your life is forfeited to us. 

J. B. I was going with them to Big Salt Lick. 

Don. ' I will shoot you on the spot {holding the 
pistol in his face) if you don't tell the truth ! Where 
is Chulloculla and his warriors ? 

J. B. I— I— yonder, in the fort at Drake's Creek. 
He was to come to-night and rob the train. 

Don. How many are there in his band ? 

J. B. They were all coming together. 

Don. Is this the first train you drove into his 
hands ? 

J. B. I— I— I— 

Don. I will pardon you if you deliver him to us. 

ToKA. {Rushing foni'ard.) Me have swore to 



36 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

kill all brothers of Chullociilla. (^Stabs him; he si?iks 
down and dies. ) 

Don. Will you follow me, friends, in going to 
trace up ChullocuUa, and deliver Bessie ? 

All. Yes, we will ! Up, let us go ! 

Jon. {Aside.') Let them rip! While they are 
gone, I'll tell you my story of the two Governors : 

"lam sixty years old, and never got drunk till 
day before yesterday," remarked old Uncle Jona- 
than, as he sat on a large tree lying flat on the 
ground. "I have lived in Arkansas for forty years — 
cum here from East Tennessy — and the thought that 
I got drunk in the evening of my life, when I can just 
see my gray hairs shining in twilight, is enough to 
make me throw np^self into the river." 

"Tell us how it occurred. Uncle Jonathan," said a 
bystander. 

"Well, some time ago up in my neighborhood," 
and he stopped talking and drew his pipe vigorously 
to see if the fire was out, "a Good Templar's Lodge 
was organized. All the young people in the commu- 
nity jined, and pretty soon they came after me. My 
son Ike was the leadin' man, and says he tome, 'Pap, 
I want you to jine this thing.' 'Ike,' says I, 'I don't 
know the taste of liquor, and I don't see the use of 
jinin'.' 'Pap,' says he, 'we want your influence. 
We are gwine to vote on the Local Option Law pretty 
soon, and we want you publicly identified with the 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 37 

work.' Then my daughter, she came around and 
begged me to jine. 'Susan,' says I, 'you never seed 
your old father take a drink.' 'No, Pap, says she, 
'but we want you to help .us to frown down the curse 
of intemperance.' Next our parson came around 
and sot my wife on me, and when they all got to 
drummin' I had to jine. I jined on a Friday night, 
and on the following Saturday I got on the boat and 
come down here. Something ailed me. Something 
kept saying Jesse White you ain't a free man. It 
l)othered me, and when I saw one of the deck-hands 
turn up a jug I wondered if he had ever taken the 
pledge, and when he set the jug down I walked 
around and looked at it, took hold of the corncob 
stopper, walked away and smelt my fingers. I went 
up on deck -and set down in front. Pretty soon two 
men came out and set down. After awhile one of 
them remarked : 'The Governor of North Carolina 
said to the Governor of South Carolina,' and without 
finishing the sentence both men laughed and drank 
out of a big black bottle. Thar was something m 
that Governor business that took me. I had heard 
my father talk about it and laugh. ' I had often heard 
it, but no one had ever been positive what it was the 
Governor said, only that time between the drinks had 
been rather long. Pretty soon one of the men 
reached down, took up the bottle, took out the cork 
and said : 



38 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

'The Governor of North Carolina said to the 
.' Then both men laughed and drank. I never 



felt so curious in my life. I looked around at the 
trees on the bank, and the women who waived their 
handkerchiefs at us as they passed. Those Governors 
had a ring about them that tingled through my old 
blood. Just then one of the men turned, held the 
bottle toward me, and said: 'The Governor of 

North .' Before I knew it I had hold of the 

bottle. I turned it up and drank. All I thought 
about was the Governors, and, when the shadows of 
Ike, Susan and the parson and my wife flitted through 
my brain, the two Governors, tall and grand, stalked 
right up and ran over them. 'The Governor of 
North Carolina, ^ and I had another pull, and a long 
one. I began to see the Governors in their true 
light. I thought they were the best fellows in the 
world. The boat seemed to be running a mile a 
minute, and I didn't care what she did, so long as the 
Governors were with us. Well, boys, the Governors 
kept a remarkin' and I kept pullin', and by the time 
I got to Little Rock I was as drunk as an owl. Oh, 
I was drunk as a mule — a mink. I got off the boat 
and yelled, 'Hoorah for the Governor of North Car- 
olina !' and the first thing I knowed I found myself 
in a sort of a prison. First time I ever was locked 
up, boys. Fust time I ever was drunk, and am sixty 
odd years old." 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 39 



6. 



AT THE INDIAN FORT. 

Indian on Guard. 

Indian Guard. Here I watch for our band, 
that pale face cannot steal Bessie, white squaw of 
chief ; white brother of her sneak around. 

Don. (^Approaching him, crawling on the ground.) 

Guard. Stop ! who be there ? 

Don. {Rising.) Where is Chulloculla ? 

G- {Levelling his rifle. ) Say the pass-word ! 

Don. I am John Bull. Where is the chief? 

G. He is not in the fort. 

Don. {The 7-eport of a gun is heard.) Who is 
shooting ? 

G. That be pale face, father to Bessie. 

Don. What is he shooting ? 

G. He sneak around like fox to shoot guard; say 
your pass- word if you be John Bull. 

Don. Here it is ! {stabbing him.) 

Rob. {is heard in the distance. ) Hallo — ee — o — 

Don. {Answers hi?n.) Hallo — ee — o— . {They 
meet and embrace one another. ) 

Don. Welcome in the wilderness ! 

Rob. Quick, let us load rifles ! {Loadi?ig.) 

Rob. Are you alone ? 

Don. No, sir !. I have four men with me. 



40 PIONEEES OF NASHVILLE 

Rob. Where did you halt ? 

Don. Down kere on the creek. Where is Bessie? 

Rob. In the fort yet. Let us go back to our 
fellows. 



7. 

THE FORT TAKEN. 

The fort is a loghouse, decorated with scalps, bows 

and arrows, etc. 

{Don. and Boh. in the distatice, crawling on the 
ground toward the fort. Their party concealed be- 
hind bushes and trees.) 

Rob. Here is the fort, the headquarters of Chul- 
loculla and Bessie's place of captivity. 

Don. How can we get at it ? If there is a strong 
garrison of Cherokees in it, it takes too many lives 
to take it by force. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll 
pretend to be that "Britisher," John Bull and pass 
the guard, go in and take Bessie with me, thus mak- 
ing good our escape. 

Rob. That won't do. You'll certainly be killed. 

Don. I fear not. Something must be done be- 
fore Chulloculla gets home. 

Rob. Good. I'll go with you for' guard. 
(They come in front of fort.) 

G. (Gomes out of the door.) Stop, who be there? 

Don. John Bull and his brother. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 41 

G. That be a- lie ! down ! (^Levels gun to shoot; 
gun snaps; Bon. shoots him.) Off with you ! (Bob. 
stays at the door, Bon. enters, comes out with Bessie 
tD make their escape. Warned by the shooting, the 
band of Indians, led by Chulloculla rush upon them, 
the latter shoots at Bon. but misses him; the Indians 
raise the warwhoop, yelling terribly. A party of 
the whites rush forward and attack the Indians; the 
latter retreat, leaving Chulloculla and Bon. in the 
foreground. Bon draws his sword to defend him- 
self against Chulloculla' s strokes with his rifle. They 
fight for some time, Bon. holding Bessie by the hand. 
The latter draws a knife, and just as Chulloculla is 
lifting up his gun for a mortal blow upon Bon., she 
buries the knife in his bosom, while Rob. at the same 
time shoots him at a little distance. Chulloculla 
drops down dead. Yet Bon. is dangerously loounded.; 
he also sinks down, intercepted by Bessie's arms. 
He raises himself up again. The Indians have dis- 
appeared, leaving their dead and wounded. Whites 
triumphant shout. Victory! Hurrah for Bessie !) 

Jon. This was a hard fight and a long time be- 
tween drinks. 



42 PIONEEES OF NASHTILLE 



CHAPTER III. 
I. 

FORT AT THE BLUFF ATTACKED. 

Mrs. Dunham. {Seen with a little girl carrying 
a water-pail coming out of the fort.) Go now, my 
child and get some water from the spring. 

Girl. Oh, mother ! I am so much afraid of the 
Indians who killed and scalped father the other day. 

Mrs. Dun. O, no dear ] They won't hurt you ; 
they never hurt little girls ; they like them ; we have 
had no water in three days. 

G. Will you stay here and watch for me till I 
come back? 

Mrs. Dun. Yes, child, I will. Fear not ! 

{Girl goes out. Indians have been watching, run 
up after her, throw her down and scalp her. As Mrs. 
Dun. sees this, she leaps to the child's rescue. They 
knock her down also and scalp her. 

Indian. (Holding up scalp, yell a7id shout:) 
Hurrah, another pale face scalp ! We swear to rest 
no till we have all their scalps ! 

(Mother and child are stunned, after a while get 
up and cry:) O dear, dear ! (Child says:) O mother, 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 43 

mother! Red men have killed me! {They run 
hack in the fort. Settlers rush out of the fort, 
arined, to run after the Indians who flee; other In- 
dians run in hetioeen the whites and the fort to cut 
them off from retreat. All shoot; one Indian is 
killed, also one of the settlers; another is wounded 
and scalped. The Indians leave him to pursue his 
comrades. Being stunned, he lies on the ground for 
time; after a while he recovers and looks around in 
great pain. Supposing the Indians had left, he gets 
up; the Indians see him, laugh at him and mock 
him. As he wanted to run away, the In- 
dians overhaul him and knock him down with their 
tomahawks.) 

Ind. {Shout:) Frenchman give us a prize for 
every scalp we give them. We will soon have them 
all! 

The other men being left loithout ammunition had 
retreated and closed the doors.) 

2. 
A WAR COUNCIL. 

On the Bluff. 

(Settlers sitting around, Boh. sta?ids up.) 

Rob. We are here in council to see what we can 
do to prevent the Indians from attacking us con- 
stantly. {Sits down. Mansco gets up.) 

Man. Our situation here is endurable no longer.' 



44 . PIONEEES OF NASHVILLE 

We cannot plough for our corn this spring, nor do 
any work on our fields without having our men shot 
down every time they venture to go out. No day 
l^asses that some of us are not shot at by the Indians. 
They are all gathered together, Cherokees, Creeks 
and Chickasaws to completely destroy us. I have 
broken up my (Mansco) settlement already. Many of 
the terrified settlers moved to Kentucky, or down 
the river. I think we must give up here too and all 
move away. 

Eat. The Indians burnt up everything at my 
(Eaton's) Station, immense quantities of corn and 
other produce, houses and fences. All who could 
get off did so and came to this fort ; but many never 
saw their comrades again in those places ; some were 
killed sleeping, others were awakened only to be ap- 
prised that their last moment was come. Death 
seems ready to embrace ail of us adventurers. Two 
men who had slept a little longer than others, were 
shot by the Indians' guns pointed through a port-hole. 
It is strange that all of my fellows did not leave be- 
fore the impending danger. I, for my part, would 
give it up in despair. 

Jon. So do I. We better go hang ourselves to 
give the Indians no more trouble. 

Man. a numerous body of Cherokee warriors 
came here in the night and lay armed in ambush. 
Nex morning three of them came in sight, and fired 



AND OF TENNESSEE 45 

at our fort, withdrawing immediately. Nineteen 
horsemen in the fort at once mounted their horses, 
and followed them. When they came to the branch 
they discovered Indians in the creek and in the 
thickets near it. These arose from their places of 
concealment and fired upon the horsemen. The latter 
dismounted to give them battle, and returned their 
fire with great alacrity. Another party of the enemy 
lay concealed in the brush and cedars ready to rush 
in the fort, in rear of the combatants. The horses 
ran away — the men being left on foot. To guard the 
fort the gates were closed. 

Jon. So was my bottle, but now I open it again. 

Eat. In the meantime the battle raged without. 
Five men. were killed on the spot, among them Capt. 
Leiper. Others were wounded before they could 
reach the fort. Some Indians ran after the loose 
horses to capture them. This circumstance and our 
trained dogs broke their line, otherwise none of us 
would have reached the fort any more. The nine 
who survived would have had to break through the 
line, their own guns being empty, whilst those of the 
Indians were well charged. 

Jon. (Aside.) So was my bottle empty but I'm 
agoing to have it charged. 

Man. Now, therefore, all those who are in favor 
of breaking up this settlement and going off will rise 
up with me. (All arise except Bob. and Don,) 



46 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Rob. My friends, I am against this hasty step. 
For where could we go to ? It is impossible to reach 
Kentucky. The Indians are in force on all the roads 
and passages leading there. For the same reason it 
is impossible to reach the settlements on the Holston. 
No other means of escape remain but going down the 
river in boats to make good our retreat to the Illinois. 
But how is the wood for such boats to be obtained ? 
The Indians are lying concealed day and night 
among the shrubs ready to kill any one who ventures 
to go out. 

Don. On the other hand, my dear comrades, we 
are not to be left alone, or without help. It is more 
than probable that new settlers will come to our suc- 
cor ere long. It is true, we are much embarrassed 
now by the savages, but we have also diminished their 
numbers. So far they have gained very Httle over 
us. We will now watch them very closely, and at- 
tend to all circumstances that give us an advantage 
over them. Let no man leave the fort without a 
rifle, and then only accompanied by another man or 
two. As soon as one is attacked, let all of us go to 
his rescue. 

Jon. (Aside.) So if I am drunk I want you to 
come to my rescue. 

■ Rob. Think of our sufferings and hardships when 
we were first coming here. Think of our battles won 
over them ! What ! give up this beautiful country, 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 47 

these rich lands, these growing crops, our strong 
fortifications, this great Hck of salt that attracts 
numerous deer and buffaloes, these exuberant springs 
of fresh water, in one word, our whole new home 
with our mothers, wives and innocent children, and 
flee from all this like a pack of cowards? (All arise.) 
Don. No, we will not flee, but stick to our prop- 
erty, defend our wives and children, and stand to 
them Hke one man, come what may — rather death 
than cowardly flight ! 

[Hurrah for our fathers, Robertson and Donaldson.] 
Jon. (Aside.) Ah ! Is this the way the farce 
turns out? I thought you were all going to jump 
into the Cumberland and drown yourselves. You 
have fooled me this time, whereas fooling you is 
always my business. Just wait, it wont be long — be- 
tween this and a drink, etc. 



3- 

TREATY OF PEACE. 

( Chief Moytoy with Indians and all the settlers sit- 
ting around under trees, one after the other smokes 
the Calumet, talking. Robertson gets up and 
makes a speech; all listen attentively.) 
Rob. My worthy Indian friends ! I feel happy to 
see you gathered around us to-day, to listen to the 
Council of Peace. Alas ! war has been waging long 



18 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

enough to the destruction of many a brave and gal- 
lant warrior on both sides. Why should there be 
any more blood shed between us as we are all children 
of the same great father, who , made us all to be 
brothers ? Let us make an end to these battles, that 
have made so many widows and orphans. I stand 
here to-day in the name of our great father, President 
Washington (ajpjplause) whose power reaches over 
millions of subjects, who is a real parent to his chil- 
dren, and who has a particular regard for his friends, 
the Cherokees. I have many valuable presents to 
make to you. He expects you, in return, to surren- 
der a share of your territories. He demands lands 
to built two forts upon them in your country, to pro- 
tect you against your enemies, and to be a retreat to 
your friends and allies. I can show you the great 
poverty and the wicked designs of the French, and 
we hope you will permit none of them to enter your 
villages. 

(Moytoy rises, holding his bow in one hand, his 
shaft of arrows and other symbols in the other.) 
MOY. What I now speak, our Father, the Great Pres- 
ident Washington should hear. We are brothers to the 
people of French Lick, one great house covers us all 
(Taking a boy by the hand, he presents him to Col. 
Robertson^ saying:) We, our wives and our child- 
ren are all children to the great President. I have 
brought' this child, that when he grows up, he may 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 49 

remember our agreement this day, and to tell it to 
the next generation, that it may be known forever ! 
( Then openinq his bag of earth and laying it at the 
Col's, feet, says:) We freely surrender a part of our 
lands to the great President. The French want our 
possessions, but we will defend them while one of 
our nation shall remain alive. (Then showing his 
bow and arrows adds:) These are all the arms we 
can make for our defense. We hope the President 
will pity his children, the Cherokees, and send us 
guns and ammunition. We fear not the French. 
Give us arms and we will go war against the en- 
emies of the great President. 

{Taking a crown made of five eagle feathers:) 

Take this crown, which was brought here from 
Tennessee, our headquarters, inherited from the 
great chiefs, my fathers and grandfathers and lay it 
to the President's feet. 

{Then delivering the Col. a string of wa7npum, in 
confirmation of what he had said, he added:) 

My speech is at an end; it is the voice of the Cher- 
okee nation. I hope the Col will send it to the 
President, that it may be kept forever. 

Rob. I wish that you would depute some of your 
chiefs to accompany you to go to Washington and do 
homage in person to the great President. 

Jon. (Aside.) Gee hue! That was a great treaty, 
a long treaty; now I want you to treat me too and 
4 



50 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

not let it take long — a long time — till you treat me 
again, etc. 

4- 

THE WEDDING. 

{All seated; Boh. stands up.) 

Rob. Dear friends and comrades: I am glad to 
say that peace is restored. So far, our settlement 
on the bluff has been going by different names. Some 
call it French Lie k, because of the salt spring yonder 
in the bottom, and because it was first settled by the 
French. Now we must give it another definite 
name by which it shall be known forever, when it 
shall be the center of a great empire. {Sitting 
down. Don. gets up.) 

Don. I propose to name it after Col. Francis 
Nash, who, in the battle of German town, commanded 
as Brigadier General of the regiment in the Continen- 
tal army, and at the head of his brigade, fell bravely 
fighting for the independence of his country. {Mans- 
CO rises.) 

Man. I make a motion then that we call it Nash- 
borough or Nashburg. 

Rob. I think my friends will all agree with me if 
I propose to call her Nashville ! 

All. Hurrah for Nashville ! {Don.. rises.) 

-Don. I now make a motion that we name this, 



AND OF TENEESSEE. 51 

our county, after that glorious comrade of Gen. Nash 
—Col. Davidson! (Mansco rises.) 

Man. I second the motion. 

Rob. I am proud to state that it has been moved 
and seconded that we name this the county of David- 
son. All as agree with this will please say so ! 

All. I — I — and I. 

Rob. Contrary — no. Carried! 

This great country has also had different names. 
It has been called "The Watauga Association," 
''The State of Franklin or Frankland," "Part of 
North Carohna," and lastly "The Territory of the 
United States south of the Ohio." But now, as it is 
destined to be a star in the great Union, she ought 
to have a permanent and innate name. 

Don. I make the proposition that we name her 
after that chiefs village in the east of this State, the 
headquarters of the Cherokee nation^ where that eel. 
ebrated crown of five eagle's feathers was brought 
from, which this venerable old chief to-day laid to 
the feet of our great President Washington, and after 
which our principal river is already named — Ten. 
assee. 
All. S econded — carried — Hail to Tenassee ! 

Rob. And now my most dear friends, I have to 
perform my last and most pleasant duty yet. Having 
made a treaty with the Indians and pacified them so 
that we can live unmolested in future, and, whereas. 



52 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

my very best and bravest associate here, Col. John 
Donaldson has applied for the hand of my beloved 
daughter, whom he has rescued so gallantly from the 
hands of the savages with peril of his own Hfe, and, . 
whereas, the Governor of this great State [Jon. 
(aside) I now begin to see the Governors in their true 
light. I'm sure they are the best fellow"s in the world!] 
has invested me with the power of solemnizing the 
rites of matrimony, therefore I, Jas. Robertson join 
thee, Col. John Donaldson and thee, Elizabeth Rob- 
ertson in the bands of holy matrimony, and declare 
you to be lawful husband and wife ! 

All. Good luck ! Hurrah! (Exeunt.) 

Jon. (^Aside.) Bully for you! I always thought 

the whole farce would end with a wedding. Now 

we have it ! But now let them rip ; as for myself, I'll 

go on a big spree. Long live the Governors of North 

and South Carolina ! Hussa \ 

Exit- 



PA.RT 2. 



A HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF 



Cols, Robertson and Donaldson 

AND THEIR ASSOCIATES IN 

THE FOUNDATION OF NASHVILLE 

IN 1780, 

ACCORDING TO 

O-amsey's Annuals of Tennessee. 



DISCOVERY OF TENNESSEE. 



When the first white explorers came to this part of 
the country, it was occupied by the Shawnee, Chicka- 
saw, Uchee, Muskogee (or Creek) and Cherokee 
Indians, whose hunting grounds it was, but who had 
no regular settlements here. But before them there 
were other nations here, who had been driven away 
or extipated by these Indians. The latter acknowl- 
edged this, and named them at a very noted con- 
gress or treaty, held early in the last century at Lan- 
caster, Pa., the "Conyuch — such — roona" and simi- 
lar barbarous na,mes. A proof of this are their relics, 
which we still possess, consisting of forts, cemeteries, 
tumuli, temples and altars, camps, towns, videttes 
and fortifications. Around the present site of Nash- 
ville, there was at every lasting spring a large collec- 
tion of graves, made in a peculiar way, the whole 
covered with a stratum of mould or dirt, eight or ten 
inches deep. At many springs is the appearance of 
walls, enclosinsr ancient habitations, the foundations 
of which were visible whenever the earth was cleared 
and cultivated — to these walls entrenchments were 
sometimes added. The walls sometimes enclose six, 
eight or ten acres of land, and sometimes they are 
more extensive. 

These structures were not erected by the more 



56 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

modern Indians, but farnish unquestionable evidence 
that a dense population, at a remote period, occupied 
this country and had some progress in the arts of civ- 
ilized hfe. 

The Indians had driven other nations away, but 
were unwilling to give up those grounds to the whites 
in their turn. Often they shouted: ''Keep on, 
robbers and traitors ; in Acuera and Apalachee we 
v/ill treat you as you deserve. Every captive we will 
quarter and hang upon the highest trees along the 
road." (Irving.) 

It is uncertain who were the first whites that crossed 
the wilderness. Martin suggests that Ferd. De Soto, 
a Spanish adventurer, authorized by Charles V. in 
1539, entered the Southern part of East Tennessee, 
came across and left it near Memphis over the Mis- 
sissippi. In 1673, Marquette came down this river 
and built the first cabin and fort on Chickasaw Bluff 
Later on La Salle erected a trading post near the 
same place in 1682. 

Before 17 14, the Shawnees had conquered the 
Chickasaws and driven them away from where Nash- 
ville now stands. The same year M. Charleville, a 
French trader from Crozat's colony at New Orleans 
came here. His store was built upon a mound, on 
the west side of Cumberland river, near French Lick 
Creek, and about seventy yards from each stream. 
M. Charleville thus planted upon the banks of the 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 57 

Cumberland the germs of civilization and commerce, 
unconscious that it contained the seminal principle of 
future wealth, consequence and empire. 

The French first claimed Tennessee, and in fact 
the whole Mississippi valley and its tributaries. 

The English, through Sir A. Cummings, treated 
with the Cherokees, their chief Moytoy representing 
these, for lands, trading and their general assistance. 
At such an instance, in 1730, the name Tennessee 
was first mentioned as the headquarter village where 
the crown of that chief was brought from. The vil- 
lage was situated on the west bank of a river of the 
same name (the Little Tennessee.) The main stream, 
of which this is a tributary, received its name from 
that town. 

In 1739. Fort Assumption was built on Memphis 
Bluff. The first fort built by the Anglo-Americans 
was Fort Loudon on Tennessee river in 1756. 

Dr. Walker, passing Powell's valley, gave the 
name of "Cumberland"' to the lofty range of moun- 
tains on the West. Tracing tliis range in a south- 
western direction, he came to a remarkable depres- 
sion in the chain which he called "Cumberland Gap." 
On the Western side of the range he found a beauti- 
ful mountain stream which he named "Cumberland 
River," all in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, 
then Prime Minister of England. These names were 
ever since retained, and, with Loudon, are believed 



58 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

to be the only names in Tennessee of English origin. 
(Ramsey.) 

The first Irish immigrants came here through Del- 
2iwsire Bay, others by the port of Charleston. 

The Aborigines named the Tennessee River "Kal- 
amuchee" from its confluence with the Ohio to the 
mouth of Little Tennessee. From this point to the 
mouth of French Broad, it was called ''Cootla," and 
from there to the mouth of Watauga, the Holston 
was known to the Indians as ''Hogohegee." Little 
River was the "Canot," Cumberland was called by 
Indians "Warioto." 

Previous to the Watauga settlers, Daniel Boon, a 
hunter from Yadkin, N. C, entered Tennessee, ac- 
cording to an inscription, still to be seen on a beech 
tree near the road from Jonesborough to Blountville. 
D. Boon 
CillED A. BAR On 
Tree 
^in THE 
yEAR 
1760. 
The first grant of lands was made in 1756, by the 
authorities of Virginia to E. Pendleton, comprising 
3,000 acres of ground lying in Augusta county, on a 
branch of the middle fork of the Indian River, called 
West Creek, now SuUivan County, Tennessee. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 59 



WATAUGA. 

Watauga River derived its name from Watauga 
town, an ancient Indian village, occupying the pres- 
ent Elizabethtown, Carter County. It is a tributary 
to the Tennessee River. 

The white settlement here originated by immigrants 
coming from Wake County, N. C, — G. Christian, 
W. Anderson and Col. J. Sawyers were among the 
first. Capt W. Bean came from Pennsylvania 
County, Virginia, and settled on Boon's Creek, (1769.) 
Carter County received its name from Capt. Carter. 
Boon (D.) came to Watauga in 1769. In 1770, Jas. 
Robertson came from Wake County and lived here. 

The fkst white female that came to Watauga was 
Mrs. Boon, in 1773. 

Russel Bean was the first white child born in Ten- 
nessee. 

The first mill erected was at Buffalo Creek, built 
by B. M'Nabb. 

As early as 1772, a congregation was organized 
and a church built among these primitive people, to 
whom the Rev. Chas. Cummings preached. 

The Legislature of North CaroHna, in 1779, laid 
off and established Jonesborough as the seat of justice 
for what was then Washington County. 

T. Sharp, Spencer and others, allured by the flat- 
tering accounts they had received of the fertility of 



N 



60 TIONEERS OF NASHVILI.E 

the soil and of the abundance of game which the 
country afforded, determined to visit it. They came 
1776 to Cumberland River and built a number of 
cabins. Most of them returned, leaving Spencer and 
HoUiday, who remained in the country till 1779. 

Capt. De Mumbreune who, as late as 1823, lived 
in Nashville, hunted in that country as early as 1775. 

In 1778, the first plantation was fixed on the Cum- 
berland. A small field of corn was planted in the 
rspring 1778, near Bledsoe's Creek. A large hollow 
tree stood near the Uck. In this Spencer lived. He 
was pleased with the prospects for further settlement 
which the situation afforded, and could not be induced 
to relinquish them and return home, as HoUiday in 
vain persuaded him to do. The latter, however, 
determined to leave the wilderness, but having lost 
his knife, was unwilling to undertake his long travel 
•without one with which to skin his venison and cut 
his meat. With backwoods generosity and kindness, 
Spencer accompanied his comrade to the barrens of 
Kentucky, put him on the right path, broke his knife 
and gave him half of it, and returned to his hollow 
tree at the lick, where he passed the winter. Spen- 
cer was a man of gigantic stature, and passing one 
morning the temporary cabin erected at a place since 
called Eaton's Station, and occupied by one of Capt. 
De Mumbreune's hunters, his huge tracks were left 
plainly impressed in the rich alluvial. These were 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 61 

seen by the hunter on his return to the camp, whoy 
alarmed at their size, immediately swam across ttie 
river, and wandered through the woods until he 
reached the French settlements on the Wabash. 
{See Ramsey s Amials of Tennessee.') 

CAPT. Robertson's first colony at french lick. 

Nearly ten years had now elapsed since the germ 
of a civihzed community had been planted in upper 
East Tennessee. No setdement had been perma- 
nently fixed on the lower Cumberland. A hunter's- 
camp and the lonely habitation of Spencer were all 
that relieved the solitude or lighted the gloom of that 
western wilderness. But ihe cheerlessness of barba- 
rian night' was about to be dissipated by the dawn of 
civilization and improvement. In the early spring 
of 1779, a Httle colony of gallant adventurers, from 
the parent hive at Watauga, crossed the Cumberland- 
Mountains, penetrated the intervening wilds, and 
pitched their tents near the French Lick and planted 
a field of corn where the city of Nashville now stands. 
This field was near the lower ferry. These pioneers 
were Capt. James Robertson, George Freeland, Wil- 
liam Neely, Edward Swanson, Jas. Hanly, -Mark 
Robertson^ Zach. White and Will Overhall. A. 
negro also accompanied them. To their number was 
added, immediately after their arrival at the Lick, a; 
ftumber of others conducted by Mansco, who had' 



62 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

ten years before visited and explored, and hunted in 
the country. These emigrants also planted corn 
preparatory to the removal of their families in the 
succeeding autumn. Capt. Robertson, during the 
summer, went to lUinois to purchase the cabin rights 
from Gen. Clarke. After the crop was made, Over- 
hall, White and^Swanson, were left to keep the buffa- 
loes out of the unenclosed fields of corn, while the 
rest of the party returned for their families. 

Mansco, Frazier and other early hunters and ex- 
plorers, upon their previous return to the older settle- 
ments, had diffused an account of the fertility of the 
Cumberland lands, the abundance of game and the 
salubrity of the climate. This account was now con- 
firmed and extended by the experiments that had been 
made by the parties under Robertson and Mansco in 
planting and raising a crop. Cumberland became 
the theme of eager conversation in every neighbor- 
hood, and great numbers prepared to emigrate to this 
land of future plenty and promise. Under the lead 
of Mansco, several families removed and settled at 
Mansco' s Lick, Bledsoe's Lick and other places. 
John Rains and others, in October of this year (1779,) 
leaving New River, on their way to Kentucky, were 
persuaded by Robertson to accompany him to the 
French Lick. Assenting to this proposal, they were 
soon joined by several other companies of emigrants 
— the whole amounting to two or three hundred — 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 63 

some of them took out cattle and other domestic 
animals. The route pursued was by Cumberland 
Gap, and the Kentucky trace to Whitley's Station, 
on the waters of Green River ; thence to Robertson's 
Fork, on the north side of that stream ; thence down 
the river to Pitman's Station ; thence crossing and 
descending that river to Little Barren, crossing it at 
the Elk Lick ; thence passing the Blue Spring and 
the Dripping Spring to Big Barren ; thence up Drake's 
Creek to a bituminous spring ; thence to the Maple 
Swamp ; thence the Red River at Kilgore's Station ; 
thence to Mansco's Creek, and from there to the 
French Lick. — [From Ramsey.] 

The inclemency of the season, the great number of 
the emigrants, the delay inseparable from travelling 
over a new route, pact of it mountainous, all of it 
through a wilderness, without roads, bridges or ferries, 
prevented the arrival of the Cumberland colonists at 
their point of destination till the beginning of the year 
1780. The winter had been intensely cold, and has 
always been remembered and referred to as the ' 'cold 
winter" by all the countries in the northern hemis- 
phere, and is decisive of the chronology that fixes 
the arrival of these emigrants in Seventeen Hundred 
and Eighty. The Cumberland was found frozen 
over. Snow had fallen early in November, and it 
continued to freeze for many weeks after the emi- 
grants reached the bluff. Some "of them settled on 



64 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

the north side of the river, at Eaton's Station, where 
Page afterwards resided. The following were among 
them : Fred Stump, A. Eaton, H. Wells, T. Round- 
sever, W. Loggins and Mr. Winters. Here they 
built cabins, cleared ground and planted corn. The 
cabins were built with stockades from one to the 
other, with port holes and bastions. But most of the 
company crossed immediately after their arrival over 
the river upon the ice and settled at the Bluff where 
Nashville now stands. They were admonished by 
the existing condition of things in the other places, 
the hostilities they had witnessed from the Cherokees, 
that their settlement could not long escape the aggres- 
sion of the savages around them. They prudently 
erected block-houses in lines — the intervals between 
which were stockaded — two lines were built parallel 
to each other, and so were the other two lines, the 
whole forming a square within. Freeland's Station, 
where McGavock since resided, was at this time also 
erected. Here were also block-houses and stockades. ^ 
Mr. Rains settled the j^lace since known as Deaderick 
plantation. Among the emigrants that built their 
cabins at the Bluff, were some from South Carolina. 
These were J. Buchanan, Al. Buchanan, D. Williams^ 
J. Mulherrin, Jas. Mulherrin, S. Williams, Th. 
Thompson, besides others. 

While Robertson and his co-emigrants were thus 
teaching Cumberland by the circuitous and dangerous 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 65 

trace through the wilderness of Kentucky, others of 
their countrymen were undergoing greater hardships, 
enduring greater sufferings, and experiencing greater 
privations upon another route, not less circuitous and 
far more perilous in aiming at the same destination. 
Soon after the former had left the Holston settlements, 
on their march by land, several boats loaded with 
emigrants and their property left Fort Patrick Henry, 
near Long Island, on a voyage down the Holston 
and Tennessee, and up the Ohio and Cumberland. 
The Journal of one of them, *'The Adventure," has 
b een preserved. It was kept by Col. John Donaldson, 
the projector of the enterprise. The original is still 
in possession of the descendants of his family. The 
details of so new and remarkable an adventure by 
water are full of interest, and the journal is, therefore, 
given entire: 

''Journal of a voyage, intended by God's permis- 
sion, in the good boat Adventure, from Fort Pat- 
rick Henry on Holston River, to the French Salt 
Springs on Cumberland River, kept by John Don- 
aldson. 

December 22, 1779. — Took our departure from the 
fort and fell down the river to the mouth of Reedy 
Creek, where we were stopped by the fall of water, 
and most excessive hard frost; and after much delay 
and difficulties we arrived at the mouth of Cloud's 
Creek, on Sunday evening, the 20th February, 1780, 
5 



66 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

where we lay by until Sunday, 28th, when we took 
our departure with sundry other vessels bound for 
the same voyage, and on the same day struck the 
Poor Valley Shoal, together with Mr. Boyd and Mr. 
Rounsifer, on which shoal we lay that afternoon and 
succeeding night in much distress. 

Monday, February 2M1, 17 80. —In the morning 
the water rising, we got off the shoal, after landing 
thirty persons to lighten our boat. In attempting to land 
on an island, received some damage and lost sundry 
articles, and came to camp on the south shore, where 
we joined sundry other vessels also bound down. 

Tuesday 29//?. — Proceeded down the river and 
camped on the north shore, the afternoon and follow- 
ing day proving rainy. 

Wednesday, March 1st — Proceeded on and camped 
on the south shore, nothing happening that day re- 
markable. 

March 2d. — Rain about half the day; passed the 
mouth of French Broad River, and about 12 o'clock 
Mr. Henry's boat being driven on the point of an 
islandf by the force of the current was sunk, the 
whole cargo much damaged and the crew's lives 
much endangered, which occasioned the whole fleet 
to put on shore and go to their assistance, but with 
much difficulty bailed her, in order to take in her 
cargo again. The same afternoon Reuben Harrison 

tProbably William's Island, two miles above Knoxville. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 67 

went out a hunting and did not return that night, 
though many guns were fired to fetch him in. 

Friday^ 3. — Early in the morning fired a four- 
pounder for the lost man, sent out sundry persons to 
search the woods for him, firing many guns that day 
and the succeeding night, but all without success, to 
the great grief of his parents and fellow travellers. 

Saturday^ ^th. — Proceeded on our voyage, leaving 
old Mr. Harrison witn some other vessels to make 
further search for his lost son ; about ten o'clock the 
same day found him a considerable distance down 
the river, where Mr. Ben. Belew took him on board 
his boat. At 2 o'clock, P. M., passed the mouth of 
Tennessee River, and camped on the south shore 
about ten miles below the mouth of Tennessee. 

Sunday, ^th. — Cast off and got under way before 
sunrise; 12 o'clock passed the ^mouth of Clinch ; at 
12 o'clock M., came up with the Clinch River *Com- 
pany, whom we joined and camped, the evening 
proving rainy. 

Monday, 6th. — Got under way before sunrise; the 
morning proving very foggy, many of the fleet were 
much bogged— about 10 o'clock lay by for them ; 
when collected, proceeded down. Camped on the 
north shore, where Capt. Hutching's negro man died, 
being mucli frosted in his feet and legs, of which he 
died. 

Tuesday, ith, — Got under way very early, the day 



68 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

proving very windy, a S.S.W., and the river being, 
wide occasioned a high sea, insomuch that some of 
the smaller crafts were in danger ; therefore came to, 
at the uppermost Chiccamauga Town, which was 
then evacuated, where we lay by that afternoon and 
camped that night. The wife of Ephraim Peyton 
was here delivered of a child. Mr. Peyton has gone 
through by land with Capt. Robertson. 

Wednesday, %th. — Cast off at io o'clock, and pro- 
ceed down to an Indian village, which was inhabited, 
on the south side of the river ; they insisted on us to 
•'come ashore," called us brothers, and showed other 
signs of friendship, insomuch that Mr, John Caffery 
and my son then on board took a canoe which I had 
in tow, and were crossing over to them, the rest of 
the fleet having. landed on the opposite shore. After 
they had gone some distance, a half-breed, who called 
himself Archy Coody, with several other Indians, 
jumped into a canoe, met them, and advised them to 
return to the boat, which they did, togethei- with 
Coody and several canoes which left the shore and 
followed directly after him. They appeared to be 
friendly. After distributing some presents among 
tliem, with which the seemed much pleased, we ob- 
served a number of Indians on the other side embark- 
ing in their canoes, armed and painted with red and 
black. Coody immediately made signs to his com- 
panions, ordering them to quit the boat, which they 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 6i) 

did, himself and another Indian remaining with us 
and telHng us to move off instantly. We had not 
gone far before we discovered a number of Indians 
armed and painted proceeding down the river, as it 
were, to intercept us. Coody, the half-breed, and 
his companion, sailed with us for some time, and 
telling us that we had passed all the towns and weie 
out of danger, left us. But we had not gone far until 
we had come in sight of another town, situated like- 
wise on the south side of the river, nearly opposite a 
small island. Here they again invited us to come on 
shore, called us brothers, and observing the boats 
standing off for the opposite channel, told us that 
"their side of the river was better for boats to pass." 
And here we must regret the unfortunate death of 
young Mr. Payne, on board Capt. Blackemore's boat, 
who was mortally wounded by reason of the boat 
running too near the northern shore opposite the 
town, where some of the enemy lay concealed, and 
the more tragical misfortune of poor Stuart, his family 
and friends to the number of twenty-eight persons. 
This man had embarked with us for the Western 
country, but his family being diseased with the small- 
pox, it was agreed upon between him and the com- 
pany that he should keep at some distance in the 
rear, for fear of the infection spreading, and he was 
warned each night when the encampment should take 
place by the sound of a horn. After we had passed 



70 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

the town, the Indians having now collected to a con-* 
siderable number, observing his helpless situation, 
singled off from the rest of the fleet, intercepted him 
and killed and took prisoners the whole crew, to the 
great grief of the whole company, uncertain how soon 
they might share the same fate ; their cries were dis- 
tinctly heard by those boats in the rear. 

We still perceived them marching down the river 
in considerable bodies, keeping pace with us until the 
Cumberland Mountain withdrew them from our 
sight, when we were in hopes we had escaped them. 
We were now arrived at the place called the Whirl 
or Suck, where the river is compressed within less 
than its common width above, by the Cumberland 
Mountain, which juts in on both sides. In passing 
through the upper part of these narrows, at a place 
described by Coody, which he termed the "boihng 
pot," a trivial accident had nearly ruined the expedi- 
tion. One of the company, John Cotton, who was 
moving down in a large canoe, had attached it to 
Robert Cartwright's boat, into which he and his 
family had gone for safety. The canoe was here 
overturned, and the Httle cargo lost. The company 
pitying his distress, concluded to halt and assist him 
in recovering his property. They had landed on the 
northern shore at a level spot, and were going up to 
the place, when the Indians, to our astonishment, ap- 
peared immediately over us on the opposite cliffs^ 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 71 

and commenced firing down upon us, which occa- 
sioned a precipitate retreat to the boats. We imme- 
diately moved off, the Indians Hning the bhiffs along 
r-O'itinued their fire from the heights on our boats be- 
1 jw, without doing any other injury than wounding 
four slightly. Jenning's boat is missing. 

We have now passed through the Whirl. The river 
widens with a placid and gentle current ; and all the 
company appear to be in safety except the family of 
Jonathan Jennings, whose boat ran on a large rock, 
})rojecting out from the northern shore, and partly 
immersed in water immediately at the Whirl, where 
we were compelled to leave them, perhaps to be 
slaughtered by their merciless enemies. Continued 
to sail on that day and floated throughout the follow- 
ing night. 

T/iursday, gf/i. — Proceeded on our journey, noth- 
ing happening worthy attention to-day ; floated till 
about midnight, and encamped on the northern shore. 

Friday^ loth. — This morning about 4 o'clock we 
were surprised by the cries of "help poor Jennings," 
at some distance in the rear. He had discovered us 
by our fires, and come up in the most wretched con- 
dition. He states, that as soon as the Indians dis- 
covered his situation they turned their whole atten- 
tion to him, and kept up a most galHng fire at his 
boat. He ordered his wife, a son nearly grown, a 
young man who accompanied them and his negro man 



72 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

and woman, to throw all his goods into the river, to 
lighten their boat for tlie purpose of getting her off, 
himself returning their fire as well as he could, being 
a good soldier and an excellent marksman. But be- 
fore they had accomplished their object, his son, the 
young man and the negro, jumped out of the boat 
and left them. He thinks the young man and the 
negro were wounded before they left the boat.* Mrs. 
Jennings, however, and the negro woman, succeeded 
in unloading the boat, but chiefly by the exertions of 
Mrs, Jennings, who got out of the boat and shoved 
lier off, but was near falling a victim to her own intre- 
pidity on account of the boat starting so suddenly as 
soon as loosened- from the rock. Upon examination, 
he appears to have made a wonderful escape, for his 
boat is pierced in numberless places with bullets. It 
is to be remarked, that Mrs. Peyton, who was the 
night before delivered of an infant, which was unfor- 
tunately killed upon the hurry and confusion conse- 
quent upon such a disaster, assisted them, being fre- 
quently exposed to wet and cold then and afterwards, 
and that her health appears to be good at this time, 

*The negro was drowned. The son and the young man swam to the 
north side of the river, wliere they found and embarked in a canoe and 
floated down the river. The next day they were met by canoes full of 
Indians, who took them prisoners and carried them to Chickamauga, 
where they killed and burned the young men. They knocked Jennings 
down and were about to kill him, but were prevented by the friendly 
mediation of Rogers, an Indian trader, who ransomed him with goods. 
Rogers had been taken prisoner by Sevier a short time before, and had 
been released ; and that good oflfice he requited by the I'ansom of Jen- 
nings. 



AND OF TENNEESSEE. 73 

and I think and hope she will do well. Their clothes 
were very much cut with bullets, especially Mrs, 
Jennings's. 

Saturday, iith. — Got under way after heaving dis- 
tributed the family of Mrs. Jennings in the other 
boats. Rowed on quietly that day, and encamped 
for the night on the north shore. 

Sunday, 12th. — Set out, and after a few hours sail- 
ing we heard the crowing of cocks, and soon came 
within view of the town; here they fired on us again 
without doing any injury. 

After running until about 10 o'clock, came in sight 
of the Muscles Shoals. Halted on the northern 
shore at the appearance of the shoals, in order to 
search for the signs Capt. James E-obertson was to 
make for us at that place. He set out from Holston 
early in the fall of 1779, was to proceed by the way 
of Kentucky to the Big Salt Lick on Cumberland 
River, with several others in company, was to come 
across from the Big Salt Lick to the upper end of the 
shoals, there to make such signs that we might know 
he had been there, and that it was practicable for us to 
go across by land. But to our great mortification we 
can find none — from which we conclude that it 
would not be prudent to make the attempt, and are 
determined, knowing ourselves to be in such immi- 
nent danger, to pursue our journey down the river. 
After trimming our boats in the best manner possible, 



74 PIONEEES OF NASHVILLE 

we ran through the shoals before night. When we 
approached them they had a dreadful appearance to 
those who had never seen them before. The water 
being high made a terrible roaring, which could be 
heard at some distance among the drift-wood heaped 
frightfully upon the points of the islands, the current 
running in every possible direction. Here we did 
not know how soon we should be dashed to pieces 
and all our troubles ended at once. Our boats fre- 
quently dragged on the bottom, and appeared con- 
stantly in danger of striking. The)^ warped as much 
as in a rough sea. But by the hand of Providence 
we are now preserved from this danger also. I know 
not the length of this wonderful shoal ; it had been 
represented to me to be 25 or 30 miles. If so, we 
must have descended very rapidly, as inueed we did, 
for we passed it in about three hours. Came to, and 
camped on the northern shore, not far below the 
shoals, for the night. 

Monday^ Y-^th. — Got under way early in the morn- 
ing, and made a good run that day. 

Tuesday, \\th. — Set out early. On this day two 
boats approaching too near the shore, were fired on 
by the Indians. Five of the crews were wounded, 
but none dangerously. Came to camp at night near 
the mouth of a creek. After kindHng fires, and pre- 
paring for rest, the company were alarmed, on ac- 
count of the incessant barking our dogs kept up 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 75 

taking it for granted that the Indians were attempting 
to surprise, we retreated precipitately to the boats; 
fell down the river about a mile and encamped on 
the other shore. In the morning I prevailed on Mr, 
Caffrey and my son to cross below in a canoe, and re- 
turn to the place; which they did, and found an 
African negro we had left in the hurry, asleep by one 
of the fires. The voyagers returned and collected 
their utensils which had been left. 

Wednesday, i$f/i. — Got under way and moved on 
peaceably the five following days, when we arrived 
at the mouth of the Tennessee on Monday, the 2oth^ 
and landed on the lower point immediately on the 
bank of the Ohio. Our situation here is truly disa- 
greeable. The river is very high, and the current 
rapid, our boats not constructed for the purpose of 
stemming a rapid stream, our provision exhausted, 
the crews almost worn down with hunger and fatigue, 
and know not what distance we have to go, or what 
time it will take us to our place of destination. The 
scene is rendered still more melancholy, as several 
boats will not attempt to ascend the rapid current. 
Some intend to descend the Mississippi to Natchez ; 
others are bound for the Illinois — among the rest my 
son-in-law and daughter. We now part, perhaps to 
meet no more, for I am determined to pursue my 
course, happen what will. 

Tuesday, 21 si — Set out, and on this day la.bored 



!76 PIONEERS OF NASHTDLLE 

very hard and got but a little way ; camped on the 
south bank of the Ohio. Passed the two following 
days as the former, suffering much from hunger and 
fatigue. 

Friday, 2\th. — About 3 o'clock came to the mouth 
of a river which I thought was the Cumberland. 
Some of the company declared it could not be — ^it 
was so much smaller than we expected. But I never 
heard of any river running in between the Cumber- 
land and Tennessee. It appeared to flow with a 
gentle current. We determined, however, to make 
the trial, pushed up some distance and encamped for 
the night. 

Saturday, 25. — To-day we are much encouraged; 
the river grows wider ; the current is very gentle, and 
we are now convinced it is the Cumberland. I have 
derived great assistance from a small square sail whiich 
was fixed up on the day we left the mouth of the 
river ; and to prevent any ill-effects from sudden flaws 
of wind, a man was stationed at each of the lower 
corners of the sheet, withMirections to give way 
whenever it was necessary. 

Sunday, 26th. — Got under way early; procured 
some buffalo meat ; though poor it was palatable. 

Monday, 2']th. — Set out again ; killed a swan, which 
was very delicious. 

Tuesday, 2Zth. — Set out very early this morning; 
killed some buffalo. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 77 

Wednesday, 29//^.— Proceeded up the river; gathered 
some herbs on the bottoms of Cumberland, which 
some of the company called Shawnee salad. 

Thursday, xoth. — Proceeded on our voyage. This 
day we killed some more buffalo, 

Friday, 315-/. — Set out this day, and after running 
some distance, met with Col. Richard Henderson, 
who was running the line between Virginia and North 
Carolina. At this meeting we were much rejoiced. 
He gave us every information we wished, and further 
informed us that he had purchased a quantity of corn 
in Kentucky, to be shipped at the Falls of Ohio for 
the use of the Cumberland Settlement. We are now 
without bread, and are compelled to hunt the buffalo 
to preserve life. Worn out with fatigue, our progress 
at present is slow. Camped at night near the mouth 
of a little river, at which place and below there is a 
handsome bottom of rich land. Here we found a 
pair of hand-mill stones set up for grinding, but ap- 
peared not to have been used for a great length of 
time. 

Proceeded on quietly until the 12th of April, at 
which time we came to the mouth of a little river 
running in on the north side, by Moses Renfoe and 
his company called Red River, up which they intend 
to settle. Here they took leave of us. We pro- 
ceeded up Cumberland, nothing happening material 
until, the 23d, when we reached the first setdementort 



78 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

, the north side of the river, one mile and a half below 
the Big Salt Lick and called Eaton's Station, after a 
man of that name, who, with several other families, 
came through Kentucky and settled there. 

Monday, April 2^th. — This day we arrived at our 
journey's end at the Big Salt Lick, where we have 
the pleasure of finding Capt. Robertson and his com- 
pany. It is a source of satisfaction to us to be en- 
abled to restore to him and others their families and 
friends, who were entrusted to our care, and who, 
sometime since, perhaps, despaired of ever meeting 
again. Though our prospects at present are dreary, 
we have found a few log cabins which have been 
built on a cedar bluff above the Lick, by Gapt. Rob- 
e rtson and his company." 

(1780.) The distance traversed in the island 
voyage, the extreme danger from the navigation of 
the rapid and unknown rivers, and the hostile attacks 
from the savages upon their banks, mark the emigra- 
tion under Col. Donaldson as one of the greatest 
achievements in the settlement of the West. The 
names of these adventurous navigators and bold 
pioneers of the Cumberland country are not, all of 
them, recollected; some of them follow : Mrs. Rob- 
ertson, the wife of James Robertson, Col. Donaldson, 
John Donaldson, Jun., Robert Cartwright, Benjamin 
Porter, James Cain, Isaac Neely, John Cotton, Mr. 
Rounsever, Jonathan Jennings, William Crutchfield; 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 79 

Moses Renfroe, Joseph Renfroe, James Renfroe, 
Solomon Turpin, Johns, Sen., Francis Arm- 
strong, Isaac Lanier, Daniel Dunham, John Boyd, 
John Montgomery, John Cockrill and John Caffrey, 
with their respective families ; also, Mary Henry, a 
widow, and her family, Mary Purnell and her family, 
John Blackmore and John Gibson. 

These, with the emigrants already mentioned as 
having arrived with Robertson by the way of Ken- 
tucky trace, and the few that had remained at the 
Bluff to take care of the growing crops, constituted 
the nucleus of the Cumberland community in 1780. 
Some of them plunged^ at once, into the adjoining- 
forests, and built a cabin with its necessary defences. 
Col. Donaldson, himself, with his connections, was of 
this number. He went up the Cumberland and set- 
tled upon Stone's River, a confluent of that stream, 
at a place since called Clover Bottom, where he 
erected a small fort on its south side. The situation 
was found to be too low, as the water, during a 
freshet, surrounded the fort, and it was, for that 
reason, removed to the north side. 

Dr. Walker, the Commissioner on the part of Vir- 
ginia, for running the boundary line between that 
State and North Carolina, arrived at the Bluff. He 
was accompanied by Col. Richard Henderson and his 
two brothers, Nathaniel and Pleasant. Col. Hender- 
son erected a station also, on Stone's river, and re 



80 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

mained there some time, selling lands under the deed 
made to himself and partners by the Cherokees, at 
Watauga, in March, 1775, as has been already men- 
tioned. He sold one thousand acres per head at ten 
dollars per thousand. His certificate entitled the 
holder, at a future time, to further proceedings in a 
land office.* The purchase of ''Transylvania in 
America," as made by Henderson and his associates, 
without any authority from the States of North Caro- 
hna and Virginia, was, in itself, null and void, so far 
as it claimed to vest the title of lands in those indi- 
viduals. The associates could be recognized only as 
private citizens, having no right to make treaties with 
or purchase lands from the Indians. This treaty was, 
however, considered as an extinguishment of the In- 
dian title to the lands embraced within the boundaries 
mentioned in it. The legislatures of the two States, 
for this reason, and as a remuneration for the expen- 
ditures previous and subsequent to the treaty of Wa- 
tauga, allowed, to the Transylvania Company, a grant 
of two hundred thousand acres from each State. 

One of the great sources of Indian invasion and of 
hostile instigation, had been broken up by the capture 
of the British posts on the Wabash and in the Illmois 
country, and the captivity of Col. Hamilton, who was 
now a prisoner at Williamsburg. Many of the west • 
em tribes, had entered into treaties of peace and 

*Haywood. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 81 

friendship with Col. Clarke, which presaged a tem- 
porary quietude to the frontier people. The repeated 
chastisements of the Cherokees by the troops under 
Sevier and Shelby, seemed, for a time, to secure the 
friendship of that nation. The news pf this condi- 
tion of western affairs gave a new impulse to emigra- 
tion, and the roads and traces to Kentucky and Cum- 
berland were crowded with hardy adventurers, seek- 
ing home and fortune in their distant wilds. This 
rapid increase of population exhausted the limited 
supply of food in the country, and a dearth ensued. 
Corn, and every other article of family consumption, 
became remarkably scarce. The winter had been 
long and exceedingly cold. The cattle and hogs de- 
signed for the use of the emigrants in their new settle- 
merits, had perished from starvation and the inclem- 
ency of the season. The game in the woods was, 
from like causes, poor and sickly, and, though easily 
found and taken, was unfit for food. This scarcity 
prevailed throughout the whole frontier line for five 
hundred miles, and was aggravated by the circum- 
stance that no source of supply was within the reach 
of the suffering people. In the neighboring settle- 
ments of Kentucky, corn was worth, in March o{ 
1780, one hundred and sixty-five dollars a bushel, in 
continental money, which price it maintained until 
the opening spring suppli«ed other means of susten- 
ance.* 

*Monette. 6 



82 PIONEERS OF N'ASHVILLE 

Such were the circumstances under which the 
pioneers of the Lower Cumberland formed the first 
permanent white settlement in Middle Tennessee. 
Their position was that of hardship and danger, toil 
and suffering. As has been well said by anotherf in 
reference to Kentucky: they were posted in the heart 
of the most favorite hunting ground of numerous and 
hostile tribes of Indians on the north and on the 
south ; a ground endeared to them by its profusion of 
the finest game, subsisting on the luxuriant vegetation 
of this great natural park, It was, emphatically, the 
Eden of the Red Man. Was it then wonderful, 
that all his fiercest passions and wildest energies, 
should be aroused in its defence, against an enemy, 
whose success w^s the Indian's downfall? 

The little band of emigrants at the Bluff were in 
the center of a vast wilderness, equi-distant from the 
most war-like and ferocious tribes on this continent — 
tribes that had frequently wasted the frontiers of Car- 
olina, Virginia and Pennsylvania, with the tomahawk 
and with fire, and that were now aided, in the un- 
natural alliance of Great Britain, by the arts and 
treasures furnished by the agents of that government. 
To attack and invasion from these tribes, the geograph- 
ical position of the Cumberland setder gave a peculiar 
exposure and a special liability. Three hundred 
miles of wilderness separated them from the nearest 
fort of their countrymen on Holston. They were, 

" fButler. ~ 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 83 

perhaps, double that distance from their seat* of gov- 
ernment in North Carolina, while all the energies of 
the parent States were employed in the tremendous 
struggle for Independence, in the cause of which she 
had so early and so heartily engaged. This forlorn 
situation of the settlement at the Bluff became more 
perilous, as it was so accessible by water from the dis- 
tant hostile tribes. Descending navigation could 
bring, with great rapidity, the fleets of canoes and 
perogues, from the Ohio and its western tributaries, 
loaded with the armed warriors of that region; while 
upon the Tennessee River, with equal celerity, the 
Cherokee and Creek braves could precipitate them- 
selves to the different landings on that stream, and 
co-operating with their confederates from the north, 
unite in one general stroke of devastation and havoc. 
Had this been done at the period of the first emigra* 
tion, the Bluff settlement could have been annihilated. 
Happily, the protracted and inclement winter that in- 
flicted its inhospitable severity and such great hard- 
ships upon the first emigrants, protected them from 
attack, by confining their enemies to their towns and 
wigwams. Early in January, a small party of Dela- 
ware Indians came from the direction of the Cany 
Fork, and passed by the head of Mill Creek, and en- 
camped on one of its branches, which has since been 
called Indian Creek. The Indians proceeded to 
Bear Creek of Tennessee, and continued there during 



84 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

the summer. At this time they offered no molesta- 
tion to the whites. Before the next irruption of the 
Indians, time was given for the erection of defences, 
and Robertson's second colony was planted — consist- 
ing, like the first at Watauga, of intrepid men and 
and heroic women — fit elements for the foundation 
of a great and flourishing State. And here, at the 
Bluff, with its little garrison and rude stations— in the 
centre of a wide wilderness, and overshadowed by 
huge evergreens and the ancient forest around it— - 
amidst the snows, and ice, and storms of 1780, was 
fixed the seat of commerce, of learning and the arts 
— the future abode of refinement and hosi:)itality, and 
the cradle of empire. 

When the first settlers came to the Bluff in lyyg-- 
'3o, Haywood says the country had the appearance 
of one which had never before been cultivated. There 
was no sign of any cleared land, nor other appearance 
of former cultivation. Nothing was presented to the 
eye but one large plain of woods and cane, frequented 
by buffaloes, elk, deer, wolves, foxes, panthers and 
other animals suited to the climate. The lands ad- 
jacent to the French Lick, which Mansco, in 1769, 
when he first hunted here, called an old field, was a 
la^e open space^ frequented and trodden by buffa- 
loas, whose large paths led to it from all parts of the 
co^try and there concentred. On these adjacent 
la^s was no under-growth nor cane, as far as the 



AND GP TENNESSEE. t5® 

water reached in time of high water. The country 
as far as to Elk River and beyond it, had not a single 
permanent inhabitant, except the wild beasts of the 
forest; but there were traces, as everywhere else, of 
having been inhabited many centuries before by a 
-numerous population. 

CUMBERLAND — THE FRANKLIN COUNTIES. 

A young brave, at the treaty of Watauga, was 
overheard by the interpreter, to urge, in support of 
the Transylvania cession, this argument : that the set- 
tlement and occupancy of the ceded territory, by the 
whites, would interpose an impregnable barrier be- 
tween the Northern and Southern Indians, and that 
the latter would, in future, have quiet and undis- 
turbed possession of the choice hunting grounds 
south of the Cum.bertand. His argument prevailed 
against the prophetic warning and eloquent remon- 
strance of Occonostota. That aged chieftain, covered 
over with scars, the evidence of many a hard-fought 
battle for the Dark and Bloody Ground, signed the 
treaty reluctantly, and taking Daniel Boon by the 
hand, said, with most significant earnestness: ' 'Brother, 
we have given you a fine land, but I befieve you will 
have much trouble in settling it ; " words of ominous 
import, as subsequent events too mournfully proved. 
These events, so far as the pioneers of Tennessee 
were engaged in them, will now be narrated. "Much 



86 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

trouble," indeed was experienced in settling the ceded' 
country, and that adjoining it. Instead of serving as 
a barrier between the common claimants^ the settlers 
became a central point of attack — a target at which 
the surrounding tribes all aimed their deadliest shot. 
We left the colony of Robertson and others, near 
the French Lick, at the end of a protracted and se- 
vere winter. The opening spring enabled the savages 
to resume hostilities. The whole Hne of frontier, from 
Pennsylvania to Georgia, was simultaneously assailed 
by marauding parties of Indians, distributed along 
its entire extent. Terror and consternation were only 
the precursors of havoc and desolation. The leading, 
chiefs of the Shawnee tribe, which had once held 
possession of the Cumberland Valley, were unre- 
mitting in their efforts to bring about a general concert 
of action among all the northwestern tribes, for a 
grand exterminating invasion, during the next sum- 
mer. In this they had the approbation and encour- 
agement of British agents and officers, at Detroit and 
on the Maumee, who assured them of the powerful 
aid of their great ally, George III.* Similar in- 
fluences were constantly at work with the southern 
tribes ; and in addition to these general causes of dis- 
satisfaction and hostility, Fort Jefferson had been 
built, the previous year, in the territory of the Chick- 
asaws, without their consent, and the chief, Colbert, 

*Monette. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 87 

prepared to repel the invaders by force. The prox- 
imity of this tribe to the Cumberland settlement, was 
cause of serious apprehension and alarm. But the 
first assault upon the Cumberland settlers was made 
by the southern Indians — the Cherokees and Creeks. 
They seized the first opportunity after the hard winter 
was over, to approach the "improvements" around 
the Bluff, and to carry amongst the settlers the vv'ork 
of massacre and devastation. We abridge from Hay- 
wood and " The Museum," an account of it: 

In the month of April, (1780) Keywood and Mil- 
liken, two hunters, coming to the fort, stopped on 
Richland Creek, five or six miles from the Bluff, and 
as one of them stepped down to the creek to drink, 
the Indians fired upon and killed MiUiken. Keywood, 
escaping, brought intelligence of the affair to the fort. 
Mr. Rains then moved to the Bluff, where he con- 
tinued four years before he could venture again to 
settle in the country. The Indians soon after killed 
Joseph Hay on the Lick Branch, and a party of them- 
invested Freeland's Station, and finding an old man, 
Bernard, making an improvement, at what was then 
called Denton's Lick, killed him, cut off his head, 
and carried it away. With the old man were two 
small boys, Joseph and William Dunham, who es- 
caped unhurt and gave the alarm to the people at 
Freeland's. A young man, MiUiken, between the 
fort and Denton's Lick, not having heard the alarm, 



88 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

was surprised by the Indians, killed, and his head, 
also, was cut off and carried away. The murderers 
Avere either Creeks or Cherokees. 

Soon afterwards, in July or August, a party of In- 
dians, believed to be Delawares, killed Jonathan Jen- 
nings, at the point of the first island above Nashville. 
Higher up the Cumberland River, on the north side, 
on the bluff where WiUiam Williams, Esq., since 
lived, Ned Garver was killed ; his wife and two chil- 
dren escaped, and came to Nashville. The same 
party, in a day or two after, killed William Neely, at 
Neely's Lick, and took his daughter prisoner. 

At Eaton's Station, they also killed James Mayfield, 
near the place where, previously. Porter had been 
shot in the daytime by the Indians in the cedars, in 
view of the station. In November or De':^em])er, 
they shot Jacob Stump, and attempted to kill the old 
man, Frederic Stump, but he reached the station in 
safety, after being pursued by the Indians three miles. 
At Mansco's Lick, Jesse Balestine and John Shockley 
were killed. In the winter of the same year, David 
Goin and Risby Kennedy were killed at the same 
place, and Mansco's Station was broken up; some of 
its inhabitants went to Nashville, and others to Ken- 
tucky. At Bledsoe's Lick, or on the creek near it, 
two persons were killed : W. Johnston and Daniel 
Mungle, hunting together on Barren River, | the 
former was killed, and the latter escaped by flight. 



AND OF TENNESSEE 89 

Late in this year, a company of Indians tried to 
intercept Thomas Sharp Spencer, returning to the 
Bluff with several horses loaded with meat, after a 
successful hunt. They fired at, but missed him. The 
horses were captured, and with their cargo, were taken 
up the river. 

At Station-Camp Creek, the same Indians took 
other horses, that had strayed from a camp of white 
men near at hand, but which had not been discovered 
by the enemy. 

At Asher's Station, two miles and a half from where 
Gallatin now stands, some white men were sleeping 
in a cabin; the Indians crept up at break of day, and 
fired, killing one man, whom they scalped. They 
also wounded another, Phillips, and captured several 
horses. With these, they went off in the direction 
of Bledsoe's Lick, when they were unexpectedly met 
by Alexander Buchanan, James Manifee, William 
EUis, Alexander Thompson, and other hunters, re- 
turning to the Bluff. Buchanan killed one Indian ; 
another was wounded, and the whole party dispersed,, 
leaving, in their flight, the horses taken from Spencer 
and Philips. 

In Muy of this year, Freeland's Station was visited 
by the Indians; one man, D. Lariman, was killed, 
and his head cut off. The whites pursued the re- 
treating savages to the neighborhood of Duck River, 
near the place since known as Gordon's Ferry, where 



90 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

they came in hearing of them preparing their camp- 
fires. The party of white men immediately dis- 
mounted, and marched upon the Indian camp, which 
was found deserted ; the enemy escaped. Of the 
pursuers, who numbered about twenty, the names 
only of four are know;i : Alexander Buchanan, John 
Brock, William Mann, and Capt. James Robertson. 
This was the first military excursion in that direction, 
and reflects great credit upon the adventure and gal- 
lantry of those who made it. As it was bloodless, 
the enemy was not deterred from repeating their in- 
roads and aggressions upon the feeble settlements on 
the Cumberland, and, in a short time after, Isaac 
Lefevre was killed near the fort on the Bluff, at tlie 
spot where Nathan Ewing, Esq., since lived. Solo- 
mon Philips went out, about the same time, to the 
place since called Cros's Old Field, and was shot at, 
and wounded, by the Indians. He survived till he 
reached the fort, but soon died. Samuel Murray, 
who v/as with him in the field, was shot dead. Near 
the mound, south of where the steam-mill since stood, 
Bartlett Renfroe was killed, and John Maxwell and 
John Kendrick were taken prisoners. 

It has been already mentioned, that some of the 
emigrants that had come in boats down the Tennessee, 
had stopped at Red River, with the intention of there 
forming a settlement. Amongst these, were several 
families of the name of Renfroe, and their connex- 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 9i 

ions, Nathan and Solomon Turpin. In June or July, 
their settlement was attacked by a party of Choctaws 
and Chickasaw Indians; Nathan Turpm and another 
man were killed at the station. The residue were 
forced to withdraw to the stronger settlement at the 
Bluff. The Renfroes took charge of the women and 
children, and conducted them in safely. They af- 
terwards, in company with others from the Bluff, went 
to the station on Red River, got quiet possession of 
some property they had left there, and were upon their 
return march. At night they encamped about two 
miles north of Sycamore, at a creek, since called Bat- 
tle Creek. In the mornings Joseph Renfroe going to 
the spring, was fired at and instantly killed by the In- 
dians, who lay concealed in the bushes. They then 
broke in upon the camp, and killed old Mr. Johns 
and his wife, and all his family. Only one woman, 
Mrs. Jones, escaped; Henry Ramsey, a bold and in- 
trepid man, who had gone from the Bluff, took her 
off, and brought her in "safety to the station. Eleven 
or twelve others, there at the time of the attack, were 
all killed; the Indians, taking possession of the horses 
and other property, went off towards the south. 

The ostensible ground of these hostilities by the 
Chickasaws, was the erection, by Gen. George Rog- 
ers Clarke, of Fort Jefferson, eighteen miles below 
the mouth of the Ohio, and on the east side of the 
Mississippi. All the territory west of the Tennessee, 



92 PIOK^EERS OF NASHVILLE 

the Chicasaws pretended to hold by an indisputed 
claim. Offended at Clarke's intrusion upon their lands, 
these savages, till then neutral, became the allies of 
the British nation, and were so. at the time this mis- 
chief was perpetrated. In 1782, Capt. Robertson 
made peace with them. 

[1780] In the summer of this year, Philip Catron, 
riding from Preeland's Station to the Bluff, was fired 
on by the Indians, at the place since occupied by 
Ephraim Foster, Esq. He was wounded in tbe breast, 
so that he spit blood, but he recovered. About the 
same time, as Capt. John Caffrey and Daniel Wil- 
liams were rising the bank, in going towards the 
Bluff, they were fired upon and wounded. They 
reached the station. 

In the fall of this year, the India^ns depredated fur- 
ther upon the settlers, by stealing horses from the 
Bluff. Leiper, with fifteen men, pursued and over- 
took them on the south side of Harper, near where 
EUison formerly lived. They were encamped at 
night, and the evening was wet. Leiper and his men 
fired upon them, wounded one, regained their horses 
'and all their baggage, and returned. 

Nearly at the same time, Col. John Donaldson had 
gone up the Cumberland to the Clover Bottom, with 
two boats, for the purpose of bringing to the Bluff 
the corn which he and others had raised there the 
preceding summer. They had laden the boats with 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 9S 

the corn, and had proceeded a small distance down 
the river, when the Colonel, recollecting that he had 
forgotten to gather some cotton which had been 
planted at the lower end of the field, asked the men 
in the other boat to put to bank, for the purpose of 
picking out a part of it. They urged that it was 
growing late, and that they ought to' go on. He waived 
the exercise of his autho.ity, and had scarcely landed 
his own boat, when his companions m the other were 
suddenly attacked by a party of Indians, who lay in 
ambush to intercept the boats on their return. The 
fire of the Indians was fatal. All were killed except 
a free negro and one white man, who swam to shore, 
and wandered many days in the woods before he 
reached the Bluff. The next morning after the de 
feat, the people at the Station found the boat floating 
in the river. It was brought to the shore, and a dead 
man was in it. In this affair, Abel Gower, Sr., and 
Abel Gower, Jr., and John Robertson, son of Capt. 
Robertson, were killed-. Some others were wounded 
and taken prisoners. Col. Donaldson escaped to 
Mansco's Station. 

The only one of the settlers who died, the first year 
a natural death, was Robert Gilkey. 

Michael Stoner, this year, discovered Stoner's Lick 
and Stoner's Creek. 

The woods abounded in game, and the hunters pro- 
cured a full supply of meat for the inhabitants b\=- 



94 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

killing bears, buffalo and deer. A party of twenty 
men went up the Gany Fork as high as Flinn's Creek, 
and returned in canoes with their meat, during the 
winter. In their hunting excursion they killed one 
hundred and five bears, seventy-five buffalo, and more 
than eighty deer. This source of supply furnished 
most of the families at the Bluff with meat. A freshet, 
in July, had destroyed most of the corn on the low- 
lands and islands, and many suffered the want of 
bread. The scarcity of this article, and the multi- 
plied disasters and dangers which every moment 
threatened the settlements with destruction, at length 
disheartened some of the inhabitants. A considera- 
ble part of them moved to Kentucky and Illinois. 
The severity of the winter and the want of horses, 
put a stop to this emigration, and all the remaining 
inhabitants collected themselves together into two sta- 
tions—the Bluff and Freeland's. 

[1781] Forty or fifty Indians, at the still hour of 
midnight, January 15th, of this year, made an 'attack 
on Freeland's Station. Capt. James Robertson had, 
the evening before, returned from the Kentucky set- 
tlements. Whilst on his journey through the /inter- 
vening wilderness, he had accustomed himself to more 
vigilance than the residents of the fort felt it neces- 
sary, in their fancied security, to exercise. He was 
the first to hear the noise which the cautious savages 
made in opening the gate. He arose and alarmed 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 95 

the men in the station. But the Indians had effected 
an entrance. The cry of Indians, brought Major 
Lucas out of bed; he was shot. The alarm having 
become general, the Indians retreated through the 
gate, but fired in the port-holes through the house in 
which Major Lucas lived. In this house a negro of 
Capt. Robertson was shot. These were the only fatal 
shots ; though not less than five hundred were fired 
into that house; it was the only one in which the port- 
holes were not filled up with mud. The whites num- 
bered only eleven, but they made good use of the 
advantage they possessed in the other houses in the 
fort. Capt. Robertson shot an Indian. The whole 
body of them soon after retreated.^ The moon shone 
bright, otherwise this attack would probably have 
succeeded, as the fort was once in possession of the 
Indians. They had found means to loosen the chain 
on the inside, which confined the gate, and they were 
also superior in numbers. 

After this repulse, the Indians received reinforce- 
ments from the Cherokee nation. They burnt up 
every thing before them, immense quantities of corn 
and other produce, as well as the houses and fences, 
and the unoccupied stations of the whites. The alarm 
became general. All who could get to the Bluff or 
Eaton's Station, did so, but many never saw their 
comrades in those places ; some were killed sleeping : 
some were awakened only to be apprised that their 



96 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

last moment was come; some were killed in the noon- 
day, when not suspecting danger ; death seemed ready- 
to embrace the whole of the adventurers. In the 
morning when Mansco's Lick Station was broken up, 
two men who had slept a little later than their com- 
panions, were shot by two guns pointed through a 
port-hole by the Indians. These were David Goin 
and 'Patrick Quigley. Many of the terrified settlers 
moved to Kentucky, or went down the river. It is 
strange that all did not go out of the way of impend- 
ing danger. Heroism was then an attribute even 
with the gender sex. Mrs. Dunham sent a small girl 
out of the fort, to bring in something she wanted, 
and the Indians being there, took hold of the child 
and scalped, without killing her. The mother hear- 
ing the cries of the child, advanced towards the place 
where she was, and was shot by the Indians and 
wounded dangerously. She and the daughter lived 
many years afterwards. 

-Late in March, of this year, Col. Samuel Barton, 
passing near the head of the branch which extends 
from the stone bridge, was fired upon by Indians in 
ambush, and wounded in the wrist. He ran with the 
blood streaming from the wound, followed by a war- 
rior in close pursuit. They were seen from the fort, 
and Martin, one of the soldiers in it, ran out to meet 
and assist his comrade. The pursuing Indian re- 
treated'. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 97 

On the second day of April, in this year, a desper- 
ate attempt was made by the Indians to take the fort 
and station at the Bluff. A numerous body of Cher- 
okee warriors came there in the night and lay around 
in ambush. Next morning three of them came in 
sight, and fired at the fort on the Bluff and immedi- 
ately retreated. Nineteen horsemen in the fort at 
once mounted their horses and followed them. When 
they came to the branch, over which the stone bridge 
has since been built, they discovered Indians in the 
creek and in the thickets near it. These arose from 
their places of concealment and fired upon the horse- 
men. The latter dismounted to give them battle, and 
returned their fire with great alacrity. Another party 
of the enemy lay concealed in the wild brush and 
cedars, near the place where Mr. De Mumbrune's 
house stood in 182 r, ready to rush into the fort, in 
rear of the combatants. The horses ran back to the 
fort — the horsemen being left on foot. To guard 
against the expected assault from the Indians against 
those in the fort, its gates were closed, and prepara- 
tions made for defence. In the meantime, the battle 
raged without. Peter Gill, Alexander Buchanan 
George Kennedy, Zachariah White and Capt. Leiper, 
were killed on the spot. James Manifee and Joseph 
Moonshaw, and others, were wounded before they 
could reach the fort. At the place where the stone 
houseof Cross was afterwards built, Isaac Lucas had 
7 



98 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

his thigh broken by a ball. His comrades had gotten 
within the fort, a^nd the Indians rushed upon him to 
take his scalp. One of them running towards him, 
and being at a short distance from the supposed vic- 
tim of his barbarous revenge, was fired upon and shot 
through the bo^y by Lucas, who, v/ith his rifle well 
charged, was lying unable to rise from the ground. 
The Indian died instantly. The people in the fort, 
in order to save Lucas, kept up a brisk and warm 
fire upon those parties of the assailants who attempted 
to get to him, and finally succeeded in driving them 
off. Lucas was taken and brought into the fort by his 
own people. 

Amongst those who escaped towards the fort, was 
Edward Sv/anson, who was so closely pursued by an 
Indian warrior as to be overtaken by him. The In- 
dian punched him with the muzzle of his gun, and 
pulled trigger, when the gun snapped. Swansonlaid 
hold of the muzzle, and wringing the lock to one side, 
spilled the priming from the pan. The Indian looked 
into the pan, and finding no powder in it, struck him 
with the gun barrel, the muzzle foremost ; the stroke 
not bringing him to the ground, the Indian clubbed 
his gun, and striking Swanson with it near the lock, 
knocked him down. At this moment John Buchanan, 
Sr. , father of the late Major Buchanan, seeing the 
certain death that impended his com.rade, gallantly 
rushed from the fort to the rescue of Swanson. Com- 



AND OF TENNESSEE, 99 

ing near enough to fire, he discharged his rifle at the 
Indian, who, gritting his teeth, on receiving its con- 
tents, retired to a stump near at hand. Buchanan 
brought off Swan^on, and they both got into the fort 
without further injury. From the stump to v/hich the 
wounded warrior retired, was found, after the Indian 
forces had withdrawn, a trail, made by a body 
dragged along upon the ground, much marked with 
blood. 

When the Indians fired upon the horsemen at the 
branch, the party of them lying in ambush at De- 
mumbrune's, rose and marched towards the river, 
forming a line between the combatants and the fort 
In the meantime, when the firing between the dis- 
mounted horsemen and the enemy had commenced, 
the horses took fright, and ran in full speed on the 
south side of the Indian line towards the French 
Lick, passing by the fort on the Bluff. Seeing this, 
a number of Indians in the Hne, eager to get posses- 
sion of the horses, left their ranks and went in pursuit 
of them. At this instant the dogs in the fort, seeing 
the confusion, and hearing the firing, ran towards the 
branch, and came to that part of the Indian line that 
remained yet unbroken, and having been trained to 
hostihties against Indians, made a most furious onset 
upon them, and disabled them from doing anything 
more than defending themselves. Whilst thus en- 
gaged, the whites passed near them through the inter- 



100 PI0NEEE8 OF NASHVILLE. 

val in the Indian line made by those who had gone 
from it in pursuit of the horses. Had it not been for 
these fortunate circumstances, the white men could 
never have succeeded in reaching -the fort through 
the Indian line which had taken post between it and 
them. Such of the nineteen as survived, would have 
had to break through the line, their own guns being 
empty, whilst those of the Indians were well charged. 

This attack was well planned by the Indians, and 
was carried on with some spirit. ' At length they re- 
tired, leaving upon the field the dead Indian killed by 
Lucas; another was found buried on the east side of 
the creek, in a hollow, north of the place since occu- 
pied by Mr. Hume. Many of the Indians were seen 
hopping with lame feet or legs, and otherwise wounded. 
Their loss could never be ascertained. It must have 
been considerable. They got nineteen horses,, saddles, 
bridles and blankets, and could easily remove their 
dead and wounded. 

On the night of the same day in which this affair 
took place, another party of Indians, who had not 
come up in time to be present at the battle, marched 
to the ground since occupied by Poyzer's and Con- 
don's houses and lots, and fired some time upon the 
fort. A swivel, charged with small rocks and pieces 
of pots, was discharged at them. They immediately 
withdrew. 

In the summer of this year, William Hood was 



AND OF TENEESSEE. 101 

killed by a party of Indians, on the outside of the 
fort, at Freeland's Station. They did not, at this 
time, attack the station. Between that place and the 
French Lick, about the same time, they killed old 
Peter Renfroe, and withdrew. In the fall, Timothy 
Terril, from North Carolina, was killed. 

As Jacob Freeland was hunting on Stoner's Lick 
Creek, at the place where John Castle man since lived, 
he was killed by the Indians. There, also, at another 
time, they killed Joseph Castleman. Jacob Castle- 
man soon after, going in the woods to hunt, was sur- 
prised and killed. 

[1782.] Like atrocities marked the spring of this 
year. At the French Lick, three persons were fired 
upon by a party of Indians. John Tucker and 
Joseph Hendricks were wounded, and being pursued 
till in sight of the fort, they were rescued and their 
pursuers repulsed. The third, David Hood, the In- 
dians shot down, scalped and trampled upon him, 
believing him dead, they left him and gave chase to 
his wounded comrades. Hood, supposing the In- 
dians were gone, wounded and scalped as he was, 
got up softly, and began to walk towards the fort at 
the Bluff. To his mortification and surprise, he saw, 
standing upon the bank of the creek before him, the 
same Indians who had wounded him, making sport 
of his misfortunes and mistake. They then fell on 
him again, and inflicting other apparently mortal 



102 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

wounds, left him. He fell into a brush-heap in the 
snow, and next morning, search being made by the 
whites, he was found by his blood, and being taken 
home, was placed in an out-house as a dead man. To 
the surprise of all, he revived, and after some time 
recovered, and lived many years. 

The first mill erected was near Eaton's Station, on 
the farm since occupied by Mr. Talbot. It was the 
property of James Wells, Esq.; the next, by Colonel 
George Mansco; the third, by Capt. Frederick Stump, 
on White's Creek ; the fourth, by David Ronfifer, on 
the same creek; and the next, by Major J. Buchanan. 

After their unsuccessful attempt against the Bluff, 
in 1 781, the Indians continued occasional irruptions 
and depredations throughout the forming settlements 
on Cumberland. In that year little corn was raised. 
The scarcity of grain compelled the settlers to plant 
more largely, and raise more grain in 1782, and to 
procure subsistance by hunting. In both these pur- 
suits, many became victims to the stratagem and 
cruelty of their savage enemy. 

A settlement had been begun at Kilgore's Station, 
on the north side of the Cumberland, on Red River. 
At this place Samuel Martin and Isaac Johnston, re- 
turning to the Bluff, were fired upon by the Indians. 
They took Martin prisoner, and carried him into the 
Creek nation. He remained there nearly a year, 
and came home elegantly dressed, with two valuable 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 103 

horses and silver spurs. It was said, afterwards, that 
he had concerted with the Indians the time and place 
of the attack made by them, and that he was a sharer 
in the plunder. Isaac Johnston escaped and^ came 
home. 

Of the other settlers at Kilgore's, were two young 
men named Mason, Moses Maiding, Ambrose Maid- 
ing, Josiah Hoskins, Jesse Simons, and others. The 
two young men, Mason, had gone to Clay Lick, and 
had posted themselves in a secret place to watch for 
deer. Whilst they were there thus situated, seven 
Indians came to the Lick ; the lads took good aim, 
fired upon and killed two Indians, and then ran with 
all speed to the fort, Vv^here, being joined by three of 
the :^arrison, they returned to the Lick, found and 
scalped the dead Indians, and returned. That night 
Jolm and Ephraim Peyton, on their way to Kentucky, 
called in and remained all night at the fort. During 
the night all the horses that were there were stolen. 
In the morning pursuit v/as made, and the Indians 
were overtaken in the evening, at a creek, since called 
Peyton's Creek. They were fired upon. One was 
killed and the rest of them fled, leaving the stolen 
horses to their owners. The pursuers returned that 
night, in the direction of the fort, and encamped, and 
were progressing, next morning, on their way. In 
the meantime, the Indians, by a circuitous route, had 
got between them and the station, and when the 



104 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

whites came near enough, fired upon them, kilHng 
one of the Mason, and Josiah Hoskins, and taking 
some spoil. The Indians then retreated. Discour- 
aged by these daring depredations, the people at Kil- 
gore's Station broke up their establishment and joined 
those at the Bluff. 

In this year, also, George Aspie was killed, on 
Drake's Creek, by the Indians, and Thomas Spencer 
wounded. In the fall William McMurray was killed 
near Winchester's Mill, on Bledsoe's Creek, and 
General Smith was wounded. Noah Trammel was 
killed on Goose Creek., Maiden's Station, on Red 
River, was broken up and abandoned. 

Such were the dif^culties and dangers that accom- 
panied the infancy of the Cumberland settlements, 
that, from necessity, it became a custom of the coun- 
try for one or two persons to stand as watchmen or 
sentinels, whilst others labored in the field ; and even 
whilst one went to a spring to drink, another stood 
on the watch, with his rifle ready to protect him, by 
shooting a creeping Indian, or one rising from the 
thickets of canes and brush that covered him from 
view ; and wherever four or five were assembled 
together at a spring, or other place,- where business 
required them to be, they held their guns in their 
hands, and with their backs turned to each other, one 
faced the norths another the south, another the west 
—watching, in all directions, for a lurking or creep- 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 105 

ing enemy. Whilst the people at the Bluff were so 
much harrassed and galled by the Indians that they 
could not plant nor cultivate their corn-fields, a prop- 
osition was made, in a council of the inhabitants, to 
break up the settlements and go off. Captain Rob- 
ertson pertinaciously resisted this proposition. It was 
then impossible to reach Kentucky ; the Indians were 
in force upon all the roads and passages which led to 
it; for the same reason, it was also impossible, and 
equally impracticable, to remove to the settlements 
on Hx)lston. No other means of escape remained, 
but that of going down the river in boats, and making 
good their retreat to the IlHnois. And even to this 
plan, great obstacles were opposed ; for how was the 
wood to be obtained, with which to make the boats ? 
The Indians were, every day, in the skirts of the 
Bluff, lying concealed among the shrubs and cedar 
trees, ready to inflict death upon whoever should at- 
tempt to go to the woods. These difficulties were 
all stated by Captain Robertson. He held out the 
dangers attendant upon the attempt, on the one hand; 
the fine country they were on the point of possessing, 
on the other. To these he added, the probabiHty of 
new acquisitions of numbers from the older setde- 
ments, and the certainty of being able, by careful at- 
tention to circumstances, to defend and support them- 
selves till succor could arrive. At length, the parental 
advice and authority of Robertson prevailed. He 



106 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

finally succeeded in quieting the apprehensions of his 
co-colonists; and they gradually relinquished the 
design of evacuating the positions they occupied, 
now somewhat hallowed to them by the recollection 
of past dangers, endured toils, difficulties overcome, 
and triumphs achieved. 

The expectations of Captain Robertson were, in 
part, soon realized. The revolutionary war was 
ended ; an abatement of Indian hostility soon fol- 
lowed ; and additional emigrants from North Carolina 
and other States, gave renewed strength and anima- 
tion and permanence to his settlement. 

[1783.] But, notwithstanding these favorable cir- 
cumstances, offering, as they did, some alleviation of 
the suffering endured on Cumberland, still, in 1783, 
the offensive operations of the Indians were occa- 
sionally continued. One of the guard who came to 
the Bluff with the Commissioners from North Caro- 
lina, Roger Top, was killed at the place where Mr. 
Deaderick has since lived. At the same time and 
place, Roger Glass was wounded. Within two days 
after these acts of hostility, a settler, passing the 
place where the stone bridge now is, was shot at and 
wounded by the Indians. He succeeded in reaching 
the fort, but died soon afterwards. 

The Chickasaws, early in 1783, assembled in the 
vicinity of Nashville, at Robertson's Station, where a 
treaty was concluded, ceding and relinquishing to 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 107 

North Carolina a region of country extending nearly 
forty miles south of Cumberland River, to the ridge 
dividing the tributaries of that stream from those of 
Duck and Elk. ^ 

The policy of Spain, at this time, was, to secure 
the good feelings, if not the aid, af the southern In- 
dians. The agents of that power invited those tribes 
to meet and hold conferences with them, at the Wal- 
nut Hills. From^these conferences they returned, 
as was believed, with dispositions less amicable to 
the new settlements on the Cumberland. No large 
body of them invaded that country, but small parties 
of Indians were constantly waylaying the paths and 
surrounding the corn-fields of the emigrants. Such 
of them as were exploring the country, and making 
locations, were closely watched, and some of them 
killed. Ireson and Barnette, on a surveying excur- 
sion, were shot down and killed. On Richland 
Creek, near what has since been the plantation of 
Mr. Irwin, William Daniel, Joseph Dunham, Joshua 
Norrington, and Joel Mills, were all killed; and in a 
path leading from Dunham's Fort to Armstrong's, at 
the head of the same creek, where Castleman since 
lived, a soldier was killed as he passed from one 
fort to the other. 

At Armstrong's Fort, as Patsy, the daughter of Mr. 
Rains, was riding on horseback, with a young woman 
Betsy Williams, behind her, they were fired upon by 

"Monette, ii, 268 — — - 



lX)8 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

the Indians, and the latter killed ; the former escaped. 
A short time afterwards, near the same place, Joseph 
Noland escaped ; and during the same summer, a son 
of Thomas Noland ; and during the fall, the old man, 
himself, were also killed near this same place. About 
the same time, the Indians killed the father of Betsey 
Williams, above mentioned. 

Buchanan's Station was upon Mill Creek, five miles 
from the Bluff, not far from the farm at the present 
time owned by A. R. Crozier, Esq., on the turnpike 
leading from Nashville to Lebanon. There the In- 
dians, in this year, killed Samuel Buchanan, WiUiam 
Mulherrin and three others, who was guarding the 
station. Going from the Bluff to Kentucky, William 
Overall was killed, and Joshua Thomas mortally 
wounded. The Indians having stolen horses from 
the Bluff, Captain WilUam Pruett raised twenty men 
pursued them to Richland Creek of Elk River, over- 
took them, and recaptured the horses on the waters 
of Big Creek. They fired upon, but did not kill any 
of the Indians. As they* returned, they encamped 
near a creek on the north side of Duck River. As 
they began their march next morning, they were fired 
upon by the Indians in their rear. Moses Brown 
killed in a cane-brake, and the ground being unfavor- 
able, the whites retreated a mile and a half to more open 
ground, and there halted and formed. The Indians 
came up and an engagement ensued. Captain Pruett 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 10^ 

and Daniel Johnson were shot down, and Morris- 
Shine was wounded. Being overpowered, the sur- 
vivors of the party made good their escape to the 
Bluff, with the loss of their recaptured horses. 

These repeated aggressions and depredations upon 
the lives and property of the settlers, were the more 
pertinaciously renewed and persisted in, from the fact 
that North Carolina had, in April of this year, appro- 
priated the lands hitherto claimed by the Chickasaws 
and Cherokees, except those which, by the same act, 
were allowed to them for their hunting grounds. This 
unceremonious intrusion upon their supposed rights, 
together with the machinations of the agents of Spain, 
had the effect to exasperate their hostility to the settle- 
ments of the whites now beginning to expand and ac- 
quire permanence, by the additional strength of other 
emigrants from a different direction. Turnbull,. a 
trader, came from Natchez with horses and skins pro- 
cured in the Chickasaw nation. From the same 
place, Absalom Hooper, Thomas James, Philip 
.Alston, James Drumgold, James Cole, James Don- 
aldson and others, also arrived. A station was this 
year established by Samuel Hays on Stone's River. 

[17 84. J Constantly harrassed and alarmed by the 
continued recurrence of Indian hostility against his 
colony, Col. Robertson could no longer resist the 
conviction, that his savage neighbors on the south 
were instigated in their unfriendly conduct to the 



110 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE. 

people on Cumberland by some foreign influence, 
and he suspected that influence might be from the 
agents of Spain. He entered into correspondence 
with one of them, Mr. Portell, assuring him of a dis- 
position on the part of his countrymen to maintain 
with the Spanish colonists the most friendly relations. 
Mr. Portell, in reply, expressed his gratitude for the 
amicable behavior of the Cumberland people, and 
promised to maintain the best relations on his side, 
and expressed a wish. to be useful to the Colonel and 
his countrymen. Still, incursions for the purpose of 
murder and plunder, continued to be made by the 
Indians. Early in this year, PhiUp Trammel and 
Philip Mason were killed. As one amongst a thous- 
and instances of the unequalled fortitude and gal- 
lantry of the first settlers, a recitation is here given of 
the conflict in which they ended their existence. 
These two men had killed a dear at the head of 
White's Creek, and were skinning it. The Indians 
stole up to the place and fired upon them. They 
wounded Mason and carried off the venison. Tram- 
mel got assistance from Eaton's Station, and followed 
the Indians. He came up with them ; they fought, 
and he killed two of them. The Indians being rein- 
forced, and Mason having received a second and 
mortal wound, the whites were once more obliged to 
retreat. Trammel found some other white men in the 
woods, and induced them to go back with him to the 



AND OF TENNESSEE. Ill 

place where the Indians were. They found the lat- 
ter, and immediately renewed the fight. They killed 
three Indians, and fought till both parties were tired. 
Trammel and Josiah Hoskins, enthusiastically coura- 
geous, and determined to make the enemy yield the 
palm of victory, gallantly precipitated themselves into 
the midst of the retreating Indians, where they fell by 
the hands of the foe. The rest of the white men 
maintained their ground until both parties were ex- 
hausted and willing to rest from their martial labors. 
Another spirited affair, scarcely less heroic, deserves 
also to be specially mentioned. Aspie, Andrew Lu- 
cas, Thomas S. Spencer and Johnston, had left the 
Bluff on horseback on a hunting tour. * They had 
reached the head-waters of Drake's Creek, where 
their horses had stopped to drink. At this moment 
a party of Indians fired upon them. Lucas was shot 
through the neck and through the mouth. He, how- 
ever, dismounted with the rest, but in attempting to 
fire, the blood gushed from his mouth and wet his 
priming ; perceiving this, he crawled into a bunch of 
briers. Aspie, as he alighted from his horse, received 
a bullet which broke his thigh ; but he still fought 
heroically. Johnston and Spencer acquitted them- 
selves with incomparable gallantry, but were obliged 
to give v/ay, and to leave Aspie to his fate, though he 
entreated them earnestly not to forsake him. The 
Indians killed and scalped Aspie, but did not find 



112 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Lucas, who shortly afterwards returned to his friends. 
Spencer, in the heat of the engagement, was shot, 
but the ball split on the bone and his life was spared. 
The whole Aspie family were superlatively brave. A 
brother had been previously killed in the battle at the 
Bluff. • When he first fell, he placed himself in a posi- 
tion to reach a loaded gun, with which he shot an In- 
dian running up to scalp him. 

In tnis year also, CorneHus Riddle was shot by the 
Indians, near Buchanan's Station. He had killed 
two turkeys, and hanging'them upon a bush, had gone 
off into the woods to hunt for more. The Indians 
hearing the report of his gun, came to the place, and 
finding the turkeys, lay in ambush where they were, 
and on Riddle's coming to take them away, they fired 
upon and killed him. 

In the year 1785, Moses Brown was killed, near 
the place on Richland Creek, afterwards occupied by 
Jesse Wharton, Esq. , and then known as Brown's 
Station. Col. Robertson and Col. Weakley had gone, 
with Edmond Hickman, a Surveyor, to survey en- 
tered lands on Piny River, The Indians came upon 
them suddenly, and killed Hickman. The same 
year they killed a man living with William Stuart, 
on the plantation where Judge Haywood afterwards 

Uved. 

Notwithstanding these daring acts of hostility, th,e 
number of inhabitants steadily increased. James 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 113 

Harrison, William Hall and W. Gibson, settled this 
year above Bledsoe's Lick, and Charles Morgan es- 
tablished a station on the west side of Bledsoe's Creek, 
five miles from tHe Lick. The Indians killed Peter 
Barnett and David Steele, below Clarksville, on the 
waters of Blooming Grove. They also wounded 
Wm. Crutcher and went off, leaving a knife sticking 
in him ; he recovered. 

On the second day of March, John Peyton, a Sur- 
veyor, Ephraim Peyton, Thomas Pugh and John 
Frazier, had commenced their survey upon a creek, 
since called Defeated Creek, on the north side of 
Cumberland, in what is now Smith county, and had 
made a camp. While they were sleeping around the 
camp about midnight, a great number of Cherokee 
Indians surrounded and fired upon them. All but 
one of them were wounded, but they ran through the 
Indian line, made their escape and got home, losing 
their horses, compass, chain, blankets, saddles and 
bridles. The Indians retreated immediately to their 
towns, and were not overtaken. 

[1786] The Commissioners of the United States, 
Benjamin Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and Joseph 
Martin, concluded a treaty with the Chckasaw Com- 
missioners, Piomingo, head warrior and first minister 
Mingatushka, one of the leading chiefs, and Latopoia, 
first beloved man of that nation, at Hopewell, Janu- 
8 



114 PIONEESS OF NASHVILLE 

ary 10, 1786. The boundary of the lands allotted 
to the Chickasaw nation to live and hunt on, 

" Began on the ridge that divides the waters running 
into the Cumberland from those running into the Ten- 
nessee, at a point in a line to be run north-east, which 
shall strike the Tennessee at the mouth of Duck 
River; thence running westerly along the said ridge 
till it shall strike the Ohio ; thence down the southern 
bank thereof to the Mississippi; thence down the 
Choctaw line of Natchez District; thence along the 
said line, or the line of the district, eastwardly as far 
as the Chickasaws claimed, and lived and hunted on, 
the twenty-ninth of November, one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-two. Thence the said boundary 
eastwardly shall be the lands alloted-to the Choctaws 
and Cherokees, to live and hunt on, and the lands at 
present in possession of the Creeks, saving and re- 
serving for the establishment of a trading post, a tract 
of land, to be laid out at the lower point of the Mus- 
cle Shoals, at the mouth of Ocochappo. " 

Monette says, that the Chickasaws, by his treaty, 
ratified and confirmed that made in 1783, with Don- 
aldson and Martin, Commissioners of North Caro- 
lina. This treaty encouraged emigration to Cum- 
berland. 

[1787] The settlements were now becoming stronger 
by annual arrivals of emigrants, but had not expanded 
much, except in the direction towards Red River, 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 115 

There the new settlers underwent the usual initiation 
from Indian outrage and aggression. Hendrick's 
Station, on Station Camp Creek, was assaulted in the 
night; the house, in which were Mr. and Mrs. Price 
and their children, was broken into, the parents were 
killed and their children badly wounded. A boy 
named Baird, was killed in the day time, and several 
horses were stolen. Near the Locust-land, where 
Gen. Hall since lived, above Bledsoe's Lick, the In- 
dians killed William Hall and his son Richard, and 
another man. In May, the Indians came to Rich- 
land Creek, and in daylight killed Mark Robertson, 
near the place where Robertson's mill was since erect- 
ed. He was a brother of Col. Robertson, and was 
returning from his house. 

During the summer, the Indians came to Drake's 
Creek, where WilHam Montgomery lived, shot down 
and scalped his son, and wounded John Allen. In 
the same neighborhood they killed Mr. Morgan, Sen. 
and were pursued by a party of white men under the 
command of George Winchester, who followed on 
their trail. Another party, commanded by Captain 
William Martin, also followed them by a nearer route 
and not having found their trail, encamped near it. 
The other party, on the same night, came on the trail, 
and seeing the camp of Martin, fired into it and killed 
William Ridley, the son of George Ridley, late of Da- 
vidson county. 



116 pione:=^es of nashville 

Considerable delay occurred before Evans's bat- 
talion could be recruited, equipped, provided with 
supplies, and sent forward to Cumberland, as provi- 
ded for by the Assembly of North Carolina. Impa- 
tient of this delay. Col. Bledsoe asks permission of 
Gov. Caswell to carry an expedition against the Chick- 
amaugas. His letter is dated from Kentucky, whither 
he and Col. Robertson had gone, to i^rocure addi- 
tional forces, with which to chastise the enemy. 

"Kentucky, June ist, 1887. 

'^Dear Sir : — At this place I received accounts from 
Cumberland, that since I last did myself the pleasure 
of addressing you, three persons have been killed at 
that place, within about seven miles of Nashville; 
and there is scarcely a day, that the Indians do not 
steal horses in either Sumner or Davidson counties ; 
and I am informed, the people are exceedingly dis- 
pirited, having had accounts that several northern 
tribes, in conjunction with the Creek nation, have de- 
termined the destruction of that defenceless country, 
this summer; and their hopes seem blasted, as to 
Major Evans's assistance. Col. Robertson has lately 
been to this country to get some assistance to carry 
on a campaign against the Chickamauga towns, and 
got some assurance from the several officers. The 
time appointed for the rendezvous, was fixed to the 
15th instant, but, finding the men cannot be drawn 
out at that season of the year, I have thought it my 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 117 

duty to ask your advice in the matter ; whether, or 
not, we shall have leave of government to carry on 
such a campaign, if we can make ourselves able, with 
the assistance of our friends, the Virginians, as they 
promised us, immediately after harvest." 

Soon after the date of Col. Bledsoe's letter, that 
officer and Col. Robertson addressed Gov. Caswell, 
jointly, under date : 

"Cumberland, June 12th, 1787. 
'' Dear Sir . — Nothing but the distress of a bleed- 
ing country could induce us to trouble you on so dis- 
agreeable a subject. We enclose you a list of the 
killed in this quarter, since our departure from this 
country to the Assembly; this, with the numbers 
wounded, the vast numbers of horses stolen from the 
inhabitants, has, in a degree, flagged the spirits of the 
people. A report is now here, and has prevailed 
throughout this country, and we are induced to be- 
lieve it is true, that the Spaniards are doing all they 
can to encourage the several savage tribes to war 
against the Americans. It is certain, the Chickasaws 
inform us, that Spanish traders offer a reward for 
scalps of the Americans. A disorderly set of French 
and Spanish traders are continually on the Tennessee, 
that, we actually fear, are a great means of encour- 
aging the Indians to do us much mischief We should 
wish to take some measure to remove these disorderly 



118 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

traders from the Tennessee, and wish your Excel- 
lency's advice in the matter." 

At length, the Indian atrocities becoming so bold 
and frequent, it appeared necessary, for the protec- 
tion and defence of the settlements, that offensive 
operations should be carried on against the Indians in 
their own towns. One hundred and thirty men, from 
the different settlements on Cumberland, volunteered 
for that purpose, and assembled at the house of Col. 
Robertson. Of this force he took the command, as- 
sisted by Col. Robert Hayes and Col. James Ford, 
and marched for the Indian village, Coldwater, with 
two Chickasaws as pilots. They crossed at the mouth 
of South Harper ; thence they went a direct course 
to the mouth of Turnbull's Creek, and up that stream 
to its head; thence to Lick Creek, of Duck River; 
thence down that creek seven or eight miles, leaving 
the creek to the right hand ; thence to an old and very 
large Lick ; thence to Duck River, where the old 
Chickasaw trace crossed it ; thence, leaving the trace 
to the right hand, they went to the head of Swan 
Creek; thence to a creek then called Blue Water, 
running into the Tennessee River, about a mile and 
a half above the lower end of the Muscle Shoals. 
When within ten miles of these rapids, they heard 
the roaring of the falls. One of the Indian guides, 
with several of the most active soldiers, was ordered 
to go to the river„ These, about midnight, returned, 



•AKD OF TENNESSEE. 119 

saying the river was too distant for them to reach that' 
night and return to camp. In the morning, they 
pursued the same course they had done the day be 
fore. At 12 o'clock, they struck the river at the lower 
end of the Muscle Shoals, where it is said the road 
now crosses, and concealed themselves in the woods 
till night. On the north side of the river they dis- 
covered, on a bluff, a plain path leading along the 
river, which seemed to be much travelled ; and on the 
south side, opposite to them, were seen several In- 
dian cabins or lodges. Several of the soldiers went 
down secretly, took their station under the bank, and 
concealed themselves under the cane, to observe what 
could be seen on the other side. They had not long 
remained in their place of concealment, when they 
saw some Indians reconnoitering and evidently look- 
ing out for the troops of Col. Robertson. In doing 
this, they passed into an island near the south bank 
of the river, where they entered a canoe, and came 
half way over the stream. Not being able to see any 
of the invaders, the Indians returned to the island 
where they had started from, and fastened the canoe. 
When they left the river, Captain Rains was sent 
with fifteen men up the path, along the north bank, 
with orders from Col. Robertson to capture an Indian, 
if possible, alive. He executed the order, but did 
not see an Indian. He went nearly to the mouth of 
Bluewater Creek, when about sunset he was recalled, 



120 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

having made no discoveries. It was determined to 
cross the river that night, and the soldiers, who had 
watched the movements of the Indians, swam over 
the river and went up to the cabins, but they found 
not a single living being in the village. They then 
untied the canoe and returned in it to the north bank. 
It was found to be a very large one, but old and 
having a hole in its bottom. This the men contrived 
to stop with their shirts. Into this frail and leaky 
barque, forty men, with their', fire-arms, entered. They 
started from the shore, and the canoe sprang aleak 
and began to sink. Jumping into the water, the men 
swam back with the canoe to the northern bank. In 
these operations, some noise was necessarily made,, 
and considrable time consumed, and the embarkation 
of the troops was delayed till dayhght. With a piece 
of linn bark the hole in the canoe was at length cov- 
ered, and forty or fifty men crossed over in it, and 
took possession of the bank on the south side. The 
remainder of the troops swam over with the horses. 
Having all crossed the river in safety, attention was 
paid to drying their clothes and equipments. A rain 
came on and forced the men into the cabins. After 
the clouds cleared away, the troops mounted, and 
seeing a well beaten path, leading from the river out 
into the barrens, in a western direction, they dashed 
into it and followed it briskly. At the distance of five 
or six miles they came to corn fields, and a mile or 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 121 

two further they came to Coldwater Creek. This 
most of the troops crossed by a path so narrow that a 
single shorse could only pass it up the bank. On the 
the other side of the creek was a number of cabins, 
built upon the low grounds, which extended to the 
river about three hundred yards below. The people 
of the town were surprised by its sudden and unex- 
pected invasion, and fled precipitately to their boats 
at the river, and were closely pursued by such of the 
men as had crossed the creek. Captain Rains had 
remained on its other side, with Benjamin Castleman, 
William Loggins, William Steele and Martin Duncan, 
and seeing the retreat and flight of the enemy, went 
down the east side of the creek to intercept them. 
The retreating Indians, as they ran down on the other 
side, and had their attention drawn to those who pur- 
sued them on the same side of the creek, crossed 
over and came to the spot where Captain Rains and 
his men were, and were fired upon, while looking 
back at their pursuers, and not perceiving the snare 
into which they had fallen. Three of them dropped 
down dead. Three French traders and a white 
woman, who had got into a boat and would not sur- 
render, but mixed with the Indians and seemed de- 
termined to partake of their fate, whatever it might 
be, were killed by the troops. They wounded and 
took prisoner the principal trader and owner of the 
goods, and five or six other Frenchmen, who lived 



122 PIONEERS OF NASHVILKE 

there as traders. These had in the town stores of 
taffia, sugar, coffee, cloths, blankets, Indian wares of 
all sorts, salt, shot, Indian paints, knives, powder, 
tomahawks, tobacco and other articles, suitable for 
Indian commerce. The troops killed many of the 
Indians after they had got into the boats, and gave 
them so hot and deadly a fire from the bank of the 
river, that they were forced to jump into water, and 
were shot whilst in it, until, as the Chickasaws after- 
wards informed them, twenty-six of the Creek war- 
riors were killed in the river. The troops imme- 
diately afterwards collected all the boats that were 
upon the river, and brought them up the creek, op- 
posite the town, and placed a guard over them. Each 
of the Indian guides was, next morning, presented 
with a horse, a gun, and as many blankets and clothes 
as the horses could carry, as their portion of the 
spoils, and despatched to their homes. The name of 
one of them was Toka, a chief. 

After the departure of the Chickasaw guides, the 
troops buried the white men and the women killed in 
the engagement of the day before, set fire and burned 
up the town, and destroyed the domestic animals that 
were found in and around it. The goods of the tra- 
ders had been removed from the stores, and with the 
prisoners, were now put into three or four boats, un- 
der the charge of Jonathan Denton, Benjamin Drake, 
and John and Moses Eskridge, to navigate them. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 123 

They were directed to descend the Tennessee to 
some convenient point on its southern shore, where 
they were to meet the mounted troops, and assist 
them in crossing. At the time the boats started down 
the river, the horsemen began their march by land, 
but being without pilots, and entirely unacquainted 
with the windings of the stream, they took a course 
that led them further from it than they intended, into 
the piny woods, where they encamped. The next 
day they went to the river, where they saw several 
persons at a distance on the islands, who proved to 
be their own boatmen. Neither knew the other till 
s jme of the boatmen, nearing the shore, made the 
agreeable discovery, that the horsemen on the land 
were their friends. The troops then moved down 
the river a few miles, and came to a place just above 
the point of an island, where the descent to the river 
was easy and convenient for embarkation, and where 
the bank on the opposite side afforded a safe landing. 
Here, with the assistance of the boats, they crossed 
over. The whole command encamped together on 
the north shore, and found they had not lost a single 
man, and that not one was wounded. The place at 
which the crossing was made, is near what has since 
been known as Colbert's Ferry. 

The horsemen, after leaving camp on the Tennes- 
see, marched nearly a north course, till they struck 
the path leading to the Chickasaw Old Crossing on 



124 PIONEEKS OF NASHVILLE 

Duck river, where they had crossed going out, and 
pursuing tlieir own trace^ returned unmolested to the 
Bluff. 

At the encampment on the Tennessee, the French 
prisoners were allowed to take all their trunks and 
wearing apparel, and an equal division was made of 
the sugar and coffee amongst the troops and prisoners. 
To the latter was also given a canoe, in which, after 
bidding farewell, they ascended the river. 

The dry goods were ordered, under the care of the 
same boatmen, to Nashville. Sailing down the river 
some days, they met other French boats laden with 
goods, and having on board French traders, who, 
being greatly rejoiced at seeing their countrymen, as 
they supposed the Cumberland boatmen to be, re- 
turning home, saluted them by firing their guns. The 
latter, descending the river with their guns charged, 
came alongside of the French boats, boarded' them 
and captured the boats and crews, and conducted 
them to a place a few miles below Nashville. There 
the captors gave the Frenchmen a canoe, and dis- 
missed them with permission to go down the river, 
which Lhey did. 

The spoils taken at Coldwater were brought to 
Eaton's Station and sold, and the proceeds divided 
amongst the troops. They returned to Col. Robert- 
son's on the nmeteenth day after the commencement 



AND OF TENNEESSEE. 125 

of the expedition at his home. From this place, Col. 
Robertson wrote Gov. Caswell under date — 

"Nashville, July 2d, 1787. 
'^Sii\- — I had the pleasure of receiving your Excel- 
lency's letter to Col. Bledsoe and myself, in which 
you were so obliging as to mention you would render 
every aid m your power to our country. Never was 
there a time in which your Excellency's assistance 
and attention were more necessary than the present. 
The war being exceedingly hot in the spring, I march- 
ed some men near the Chickamaugas ; but wishing to 
avoid an open war, returned without doing them any 
mischief, leaving a letter containing every offer of 
peace that could be made on honorable terms; in 
consequence of which they sent a flag to treat, though 
I have every reason to doubt their sincerity, as sev- 
eral persons were killed during their stay, and one 
man at my house, in their sight. They impute the 
mischief we suffer to the Creeks. A few days after 
their departure, my brother, Mark Robertson, being 
killed near my house, I, by the advice of the officers, 
civil and military, raised about one hundred and 
thirty men, and followed their tracks, near the lower 
end of the Muscle Shoals, where some Indians dis- 
covered us, fired on our back picket, and alarmed a 
small town of Cherokees. We found, Where we 
crossed Tennessee, pictures of two scalps, made a few 
'-'ays before ; which scalps, we were afterwards in- 



126 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

formed, were carried into said town by seven Chero- 
kees, who were there when we attacked them. 
Though they constantly kept out spies, we had the 
good fortune to cross Tennessee, and go eighteen 
miles down the river, till in sight of the town, before 
the Indians discovered us. We made a rapid charge 
and entirely defeated them. The attack began at the 
mouth of a large creek ; we forced them into the 
creek and river, and what escaped, either got off in 
boats or swam the river. About twenty were killed 
and several wounded. The whole town, as we were 
afterwards informed by a Frenchman, whom we 
found there, had been councilling three days, at the 
instigation of a principal Creek chief, and had unani- 
mously agreed to fight us, if we crossed Tennessee. 
From what passed at this consultation, I have every 
reason to believe the Creeks totally averse to peace, 
notwithstanding they have had no cause of offence. 
We have been exceedingly particular in giving them 
no reason to complain. Their force consisted of ten 
Creeks and thirty-five Cherokee warriors, together 
with nine Frenchmen, chiefly from Detroit, who had 
joined the Indians against us. Among the dead was 
the Creek chief before mentioned, a mischievous 
Cherokee chief, three Frenchmen and a French- 
woman, who was killed by accident, in one of the 
boats. In this action we lost not a single man ; but a 
party of fifty men, who was sent to the mouth 



AKD OF TENNESSEE. J 27 

of Duck River, was there attacked by a large 
number of Indians, and we had one man killed and' 
eight wounded. We were piloted by two Chicka- 
saws, in this expedition; their nation seem, on every 
occasion, our friends, and if it were possible to supply 
them with trade, at the Chickasaw Bluff, there is no 
doubt but they and the Choctaws would find full em- 
ployment for our enemies. 

From the constant incursions of the Indians, I have 
been obliged to keep the miHtia very much in service 
on scouts, guards, etc. , and have been under the ne- 
cessity of promising them pay, without which, I am 
persuaded, the army would have totally broken up,- 
as many have already done. I hope you will ap- 
prove the promise I have made to the inhabitants. 
Sumner county seems to be in peace, compared with 
this^ being more out of the range of the Indians. I 
have not an opportunity of seeing Col. Bledsoe, or I 
make no doubt he would join' me in informing your 
Excellency that our situation, at present, is deplora- 
ble — deprived of raising subsistence, and constantly 
harrassed with performing military duty, our only 
hope is in the troops promised us by the General 
Assembly; but, as yet, we have no news of them. I 
earnestly beg your Excellency to forward them v/ith 
all possible expedition. I hope that your Excellency 
will, by express or otherwise, favor me with an^ 
answer." 



128 PIONEEES OF NASHVILLE 

This spirited invasion of the heart of the Indian 
country, and the success that had attended the assault 
against Coldwater, were followed by a short respite 
from savage aggression. Heretofore, there had not 
been an hour of safety to any settler on the waters of 
Cumberland, and offensive measures were adopted 
and energetically executed. The vengeance so long 
delayed, had, at length, fallen with most fatal effect 
upon those who had so frequently provoked it. At 
Coldwater, Colonel Robertson discovered the sources 
from which the Indians were supplied with the ma- 
terials which enabled them to make inroads upon the 
new settlements; the means by which, and the chan- 
nels through which, they received them ; and the 
practicable 'modes of cutting them off, as well as the 
facility of seizing upon the stores, when deposited in 
villages near the place of disembarkation. The ad- 
vantages acquired by his expedition were various and 
important, and by putting the Indians in danger at 
home, and making it necessary for them to act on the 
defensive, near their own villages, had greatly dimin- 
ished the vigor of their enterprises against the feeble 
settlements. 

These advantages, however, were somewhat coun- 
teracted by the unfortunate issue of another expedi- 
tion, connected, in part, with that so gallantly car- 
ried on by Colonel Robertson, and undertaken about 
the same time, with the view of securing its success. 



AND OF TENNESSEE 129 

When the troops started on the campaign to Cold- 
water, David Hay, of Nashville, had the command 
of a company there, and determined to carry them,, 
simultaneously, against the enemy, by water; not 
only to assist their countrymen in the assault upon the 
Indian villages, but to carry to them provisions and 
supplies, which, it was apprehended, they might need 
on their arrival at the Tennessee River, and, particu- 
larly, in case of the detention of the horsemen in that 
neighborhood, for a longer time than was anticipated. 
Captain Hay and his men descended the river in three 
boats, and passing around into the Tennessee, had 
proceeded unmolested up that stream to the mouth of 
Duck River. When they had reached that stream, 
the boat commanded by Moses Shelby, entered into 
it a small distance, for the purpose of examining a 
canoe, which he observed there, fastened to the bank. 
A party of Indians had concealed themselves in the 
canoe and behind the trees, not more than ten or 
twelve feet from the canoe, and from the boat itself, 
and poured in a most unexpected fire into the boat. 
John Top and Hugh Roquering were shot through 
the body; Edward Hogan through the arm, the ball 
fracturing the bone ; Josiah Renfroe was shot through 
the head, and killed on the spot. The survivors 
made great haste to get the boat off, but, having the 
prow up the small river, and several of the crew 
being wholly disabled, and some of them greatly dis- 



130 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

mayed by the sudden fire and destruction which had 
come upon them, acted in disorder, and with great 
difficulty got the boat again into the Tennessee, be- 
yond the reach of the Indian guns, before they could 
reload and fire a second time. Had this movement 
been executed with less alacrity and despatch, the 
rash and unadvised act of going to the canoe, would 
have caused the whole crew to become victims to the 
stratagem of the Indians. As it was, their artful plot 
had too well succeded, and the expedition, which 
promised so much, and thus far had been prosecuted 
without interruption, was abandoned. Captain Hay 
returned, with his wounded men, to Nashville, where, 
alone, surgical and medical assistance could be pro- 
cured. 

The affair at Coldwater, and the capture of the 
French traders and their goods on the Teiftessee, 
had involved Col. Robertson in a difficulty with a na- 
tion then at peace with the United States. That 
officer deemed it necessary, therefore, to make a writ- 
ten exposition of the causes and motives which led to 
the campaign which he had conducted, and in which 
citizens of France had been made to suffer. This 
communication he addressed to a functionary at the 
Illinois. He stated in it, 

"That for some years past a trade had been carried 
on by Frenchmen from the Wabash, with the Indians 
on Tennessee. The trade had been formerly man- 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 131 

aged by a Mr. Veiz, and while he carried it on die 
Indians were peaceable towards us; but for two cr 
three years past, these Indians had been extremely 
inimical, at all seasons killing our men, women and 
children, and stealing our horses. He had sufficient 
evidence of the fact also, that these Indians were ex- 
cited to war against us by the suggesdons of these 
traders, who both advised them to war and gave them 
goods for carrying it on. The Chickasaws had told 
him that they had been offered goods by those traders 
if they would go to war against us. And one John 
Rogers declared, that he had seen a Creek fellow 
have on a pair of arm-bands, which he said were 
given to him by the French traders, for going to war 
against our people. Their incursions upon us this 
spring have been more severe than usual, and I de- 
termined to distress them. For this purpose, he 
stated that he had taken a part of the militia of David- 
son county, followed the tracks of one of their scalp- 
ing parties, who had just been doing murder here, 
and pursuing them to a town on Tennessee, at the 
mouth of Cold water, nad destroyed the town, and 
killed, as he supposed, about twenty of the Indians. 
The scalps of two of our people whom they had lately 
murdered, were found in the town. Some of the 
French imprudenUy put themselves in the action, and 
some of them fell. From that place he sent a party 
around to the River Cumberland by water. On the 



132 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Tennessee they found five Frenchmen, with twa 
boats, having on board goods to trade with those very- 
Indians. The commafider of the party captured the 
boats with the traders, and brought them round to 
the Cumberland, and gave them their choice, either 
to come up to the setdement and stand their trial for 
what they had done, thereby to try and regain their 
goods, or else they might go home at once without 
their goods ; they chose the latter. The taking of 
these boats, said Col. Robertson, was without my 
knowledge or approbation. I am now endeavoring 
to collect the property which was in them, and I de- 
sire the owners to be notified, that if they could make 
it appear that they were not guilty of a breach of the 
laws, and did not intend to furnish our enemies with 
powder, lead and other goods, for our destruction, on 
applying here at Nashville, they can have their prop- 
erty again. He declared that if those Indians would 
be peaceable, we should never attempt to deprive 
them of any trade they could procure. But whilst 
they continue at war, said he, any traders who fur- 
nish them with arms and ammunition, will render 
themselves very insecure." 

The fearless irruption of the troops under Robert- 
son, was followed by a temporary relaxation of Indian 
hostility. But soon after their route and discomfiture 
at Coldwater, they collected in small bodies, crossed 
the Tennessee, and commenced an undistinguishing 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 133 

carnage upon the settlers, of all ages and sexes. One 
^f these was pursued by a small body of white men 
under Capt. Shannon. The Indians had reached • 
the bank of Tennessee River; some were in their 
camp, eating, others making preparations to cross to 
the opposite shore. The former were discovered by ■ 
Shannon's men, who fired and rushed impetuously 
upon them. Castleman killed one. Another proving ■ 
too strong, took Luke Anderson's gun from him, but 
before he could discharge her, William Pillow, since 
a Colonel, of Maury county, and the uncle of Gen. ' 
Gideon J. Pillow, of the United States Army, shot 
the Indian and recovered the gun. The remaining 
Indians, who were without the camp, were com- 
manded by Big Foot, a leading warrior of determined 
bravery. Believing, from the report of the guns 
which had been fired, that the number of the assail- 
ants was inconsiderable, these resolved to attack the 
whites, and did so. A terrible conflict ensued. Vic- 
tory, for some time wavering, at length declared 
against the Indians. Their leader and five of his fol- 
lowers were killed, the rest raised the yell and disap- 
peared in the bushes. 

[1787] Late in July, of this year, two hundred 
Creek warriors, .embodied for the purpose, as they 
said, of taking satisfaction for three Indians killed in 
an affair eighteen miles below Chota. Mr. Perrault 
met and delivered, and expounded to them a letter, 



134 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

written by Col. Robertson, and addressed to their na- 
tion. Perrault endeavored to dissuade them from 
hostilities and to get them to turn back, but his mis- 
sion was fruitless. They persevered in their march, 
adding to their rejection of the overtures for peace^ 
a threat, that if their territory should be again in- 
vaded, or another Creek should be killed after 
their present incursion, the whites might expect a 
merciless war. 

Of the battalion ordered to be raised for the pro- 
tection of Davidson county. Major Evans was ap- 
pointed to take the command. These troops arrived 
in Cumberland m successive detachments, accom- 
panying parties of emigrants, that were constantly 
augmenting the resources and defences of the coun- 
try. Col. Robertson, to add further to the efficiency 
of Evans's battalion, was enabled, from the increased 
strength of the population, to select and detach a 
certain portion of it to act as patrols or spies. It was 
their business to go through the woods from the bor- 
ders of the settlements — in every direction, and to 
every place where there was an Indian or a buffalo 
trace — to the crossing places on rivers and creeks, to 
look after the Indians, and to notice the trails they 
had made in their marches. At that time canes and 
weeds grew up so luxuriantly, in all parts of the couiv 
try, that two or three men, even without horses, could 
not pass through without leaving a discernible trace. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 135 

which might be followed with no risk of mistake. 
Amongst the patrols selected for the performance of 
this service, was Capt. John Rains. Col. Robertson 
was led to this choice by the experience he had had 
in his prowess and diligence. His orders to him had 
always been executed punctually, promptly, and with 
a degree of bravery that was never exceeded. An 
occasion soon offered for the exercise of these emi- 
nent quaUties. The Indians killed Randall Gentry, 
not far from the Bluff, at the place v/here Mr. Foster 
since lived. About the same time, Curtis Williams 
and Thomas Fletcher, with his son, were also killed 
near the mouth of Harper. Captain Rains was or- 
dered to pursue the perpetrators of this mischief. He 
soon raised sixty men and followed them. Their 
trace was found and pursuit made ; he passed Mill 
Creek, Big Harper, the Fishing Ford of Duck River, 
Elk River, at the mouth of Swan Creek, and Flint 
River. Not being able to overtake the enemy, he 
left their trace and went westv/ardly, and struck Mc- 
Cutchin's trace. Before he reached Elk River, he 
discovered tracks of Indians going in the direction of 
Nashville. At the crossing of the river, he came to 
the camp which they had left the morning before. 
He went forward six miles and halted, sending for- 
ward a few of liis men to see that the enemy was not 
so near as to hear his men forming their encampment. 
These returned w^ithout having seen any of the In- 



136 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

dians. Next morning Capt. Rains continued the pur- 
suit, and in the afternoon found the place they had 
encamped the preceding night. The ground had 
been cleared of leaves and brush, and upon this the 
war dance had been celebrated. There were, more- 
over, evidences of a wary and dehberate invasion for 
hostile purposes, and of very cautious and watchful 
progress. The troops, after crossing Duck River, at 
the mouth of Globe and fountain Creek, encamped at 
night on its north side. Renewing their march next 
morning, they came, at the distance of six miles on 
the waters of Rutherford's Creek, near where Solo- 
mon Herring has since lived, upon the camp of the 
Indians. It was fired upon, when the Indians im- 
mediately fled, leaving one of their number dead. 
Captain Rains, with his company, then returned to 
Nashville. 

The same vigilant officer soon after received the 
orders of Col. Robertson to raise another company, 
and scour the woods southwardly from Nashville, and 
destroy any Indians that might be found, east of the 
line dividing the Cherokee and Chickasaw nations. 
Sixty men constituted the command. They took the 
Chickasaw trace, crossing Duck River and Swan 
Creek, pursuing the Chickasaw path, whicli was rec- 
ognized as the boundary. They then left the path, 
going south and east up the Tennessee River. After 
two days they came upon an Indian trail, and made 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 137 

pursuit. They overtook them, killed four men, and 
captured a boy. Seven horses, guns, blankets, skins, 
and all the Indians had, were taken The troop then 
returned to Nashville. 

The boy, who had been taken prisoner in this en- 
gagement, was the son of a Chickasaw woman. His 
father was a Creek warrior. Mountain Leader, a 
distinguished chief of her nation, wrote, in behalf of 
the mother, to Capt. Rains, and proposed to ex- 
change, for his prisoner, the son of a Mrs. Naine, 
who had been stolen by the Creeks from her, on 
White's Creek, and taken to the interior of their na- 
tion. Batterboo, a son of the Mountain Leader, had 
re-captured him from the Creeks. The exchange, as 
proposed, was agreed to and made. 

In September, of this year, Captain Rains, being 
reinforced by a like number of men, commanded by 
Capt. Shannon, made his third expedition. The troop 
passed Green's Lick and Pond Spring, towards, the 
head of Elk, scouring the woods in various directions. 
They came upon a fresh Indian trail, which they f'^l- 
lowed, and soon overtook the enemy. Capt. Rains, 
and one of his men, Beverly Ridley, pursued one of 
them and killed him. John Rains, Jr., and Robert 
Evans, outran another, and made him prisoner. All 
the rest escaped by flight. In the camp of this party 
were found large quantities of skins, and other plun- 



138 PIONEERS OF NASHVILjlE 

der, which, with fifteen horses, fell into the hands of 
the whites. 

Besides these excursions of Capt. Rains, other 
companies made similar expeditions in every direc- 
tion throughout the country. Of the troops sent over 
Cumberland Mountain, to protect the infant settle- 
ments, was a company of rangers, commanded by 
Capt. William Martin. He remained in that frontier 
nearly two years; sometimes stationed in a fort, 
sometimes pursuing marauding pardes of Indians, 
sometimes opening up channels of travel, by which 
emigrants could more easily reach the forming setde- 
ments.'!^ The Indians soon became more wary 
hi their invasions of the settlements, as the woods 
through which they had to pass were constantly tra- 
versed by armed bodies of men, endeavoring to find 
their trails and prevent their inroads. In addition to 
these companies raised from the settlers, a part of 
Major Evans's battalion was distributed over the coun- 
try, and placed at the different stations, in such pro- 
portions as emergencies required. The command of 
Capt. Hadley remained for nearly two years, and ad- 
ded alike to the population and security of the coun- 
try. Scouts were sent out from Bledsoe's Lick to the 
Cany Fork, under the command of Col. Winchester. 
They frequently fell upon Indian trails, and met war 

*At the Talladega battle, after Col. Pillow was wounded, his Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel William Martin, took command, and was conspicuous for his 
good conduct. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 139 

parties in the woods, with great variety of fortune, 
sometimes disastrous and sometimes successful. 

But, not withstanding all these measures of defence 
and precaution, the Indians occasionally succeeded 
in penetrating to the more exposed frontier stations, 
and murdering the inhabitants. In this way Samuel 
Buchanan was killed. The Indians came upon him, 
ploughing in the field, and fired upon him. He ran, 
and was pursued by twelve Indians, taking, in their 
pursuit, the form of a half-moon. When he came to 
the bluff of the creek, below the field, he jumped 
down a steep bank into the creek, where he was over- 
taken, killed and scalped. But the frontier, gene- 
rally, was so vigilantly guarded by brave men, ex- 
perienced in Indian fighting, that little success fol- 
lowed the incursions of the enemy — now more unfre- 
quent, and conducted with timidity and caution. 

[1788] The settlements had received considerable 
addition of emigrants. Agricultural pursuits were 
rewarded by bountiful crops, and the implacable en- 
mity of the savages was the only interruption to gene- 
ral prosperity. In Februar}^, the Indians came to 
Bledsoe's Station, in the night time, and wounded 
George Hamilton, and went off. Near Asher's Sta- 
tion, on the north side of Cumberland, they wounded 
Jesse Maxey; he fell, and they scalped him and stuck 
a knife into his body. Contrary to expectation, he 
recovered. 



140 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

The Indians came to the house of Wm. Montgom- 
ery, on Drake's Creek, in dayHght, and killed, at the 
spring, not a hundred yards from the house, his three 
sons. In March, of the same year, a party of Creeks 
killed Peyton, the son of Col. James Robertson, at 
his plantation on Richland Creek, and captured a lad 
John Johnston, and retained him in captivity several 
years. Robert Jones was killed, some time after- 
wards, at Wilson's Station, and Benjamin Williams, 
near the head of Station-Camp Creek. Mrs. Neely 
was killed, and Robert Edmondson wounded, in 
Neely's Bend, and in October following, Dunham 
and Astill were killed. 

These repeated acts of hostility on the part of the 
Creek nation, were generally ascribed to Spanish in- 
fluence. That tribe had no real cause of displeasure 
against the people of Cumberland. They claimed 
no territory upon which settlements had been formed; 
no encroachments upon their possessions had been 
made; no acts of offensive war been perpetrated by 
Robertson and his colonists, except in defence of 
themselves and their families. Under these circum- 
stances, it was determmed to inquire, in a formal 
manner, from the Chief of the Creek nation, what 
were the grounds of their offensive deportment towards 
the settlers. Col. Robertson and Col. Anthony 
Bledsoe, therefore, addressed a joint letter to the cel- 
ebrated McGillevray, which was transmitted to hira 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 141 

by special messengers, Mr. Hoggatt and Mr. Ewing. 
To this communication, the chief replied from Little 
Tallassee, April 4, rySS. In his reply, he mentioned 
that, in common with other southern tribes, the 
Creeks had adhered to the British interest during the 
late war. That after peace was made, he had ac- 
cepted proposals for friendship between their people, 
but that while that accommodation was pending, six 
of his nation were killed in the affair at Coldwater; 
and these warriors belonging to different towns, iu 
each of which they had connexions of the first con- 
sequence, a violent clamour followed, which had given 
rise to the expeditions that afterwards took place 
against Cumberland. The affair at Coldwater, he 
continued, has since been amply retaliated, and I 
will now use my best endeavors to bring about a peace 
between us. This friendly overture was scarcely re- 
ceived on Cumberland, when, on the 20th of July, 
hostilities were again renewed. 

Unfortunately for the country, the first victim was 
an individual prominent for his private virtues and 
for his public services, civil and military, rendered to 
the people on the frontier from the first settlement of 
Holston and Cumberland. Col. Anthony Bledsoe, 
having broken up his own fort, on what v/as known 
as the Greenfield Grant, had moved into the fort of 
his brother, Isaac Bledsoe, at Bledsoe's Lick, and oc- 
cupied one end of his house. About midnight, of 



142 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

July 2oth, after the families living in the fort had re- 
tired to bed, James Clendening announced that the 
Indians were approaching near the houses. A party 
of them had formed an ambuscade about forty yards 
in front of the passage separating the houses of the 
brothers, and, with the view of drawing out the in- 
mates, a few of the Indians rode rapidly through a 
lane near the fort. Col. Anthony Bledsoe, hearing 
the alarm, immediately arose, and, with his servant, 
Campbell, went boldly into the passage. The night 
was clear and the moon shone bri r^htly. The Indians 
fired ; Campbell was killed, and the Colonel received 
a mortal wound, being shot directly through the body. 
He died at sunrise next morning. 

The fire of the Indians aroused William Hall, who 
was also at Bledsoe's Lick, and he made immediate 
preparation to resist a further anticipated attack. 
With some other gunmen, he went to the port-holes., 
and there remained till daylight. The Indians, see- 
ing the fort was upon its guard, made no further as- 
sault, and withdrew. 

At this period, it will be recollected, that the Union 
was in disorder, and on the point of dissolution from 
the imbecility of its own structure, and that North 
Carolina betrayed both inability and disinclination to 
furnish her trans-momane counties any assistance. 
Col. Robertson adopted the policy of temporizing 
and amusing, for the time being, both the Creek 



AND OF teneessp:e. 143 

chieftain and the agents of Spain, and to dissemble 
the deep resentment their conduct had excited. With 
this view, he rephed to McGillevray on the 3d of 
August, and though the recent death of his friend 
Col. Bledsoe, must have greatly irritated him, he 
suppressed every feeling of resentment and asperity. 
He acknowledged the satisfaction McGillevray's let- 
ter had given to his countrymen, and even seemed to 
extenuate the recent aggressions of the Creeks upon 
the settlers. He mentioned, without comment, the 
death of Col. Bledsoe, and as a m.eans of further con- 
ciliation, added, that he had caused a deed for a lot 
in Nashville to be recorded in his name, and begged 
he would accept a tract or two of land in our young 
country. "I would say much to you," he continued, 
''respecting this fine country, but am fully sensible 
you are better able to judge what m.ay take place a 
few years hence, than myself. In all probability, we 
cannot long remain in our present state, and if the 
British or any commercial nation, who may possess 
the mouth of the Misssssippi River, would furnish us 
with trade, and receive our produce, there cannot be 
a doubt, but that the people w^st of the Apalachian 
Mountains will open their eyes to their true interests. 
I shall be very happy to have your sentiments on 
these matters." This piece of diplomacy was not, as 
will be seen hereafter, without its effect upon those 
for whose use it was specially intended. 



144 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE , 

Thus skilfully did the young diplomatists at the 
Bluff, conduct the negotiation for its safety. To a 
further complaint made by McGillevray, of encroach- 
m.ents by settlers upon Creek- territory, Col. Robert- 
son again replied : "He regretted the circumstances, 
and excused both himself and the people of Cumber- 
land from blame, by remarking, that they were not a 
parr of the State* whose people made the encroach- 
ments. The people of Cumberland, he avowed, only 
claimed the lands which the Cherokees had sold in 
1775, to Col. Henderson, and for which they were paid. ' 
He had not expected to be blamed for his late expe- 
dition, against the Indians below the Muscle Shoals, 
who were known to be a lawless banditti, and subject 
to the regulations of no nation. He had been sub- 
jected, recently, to the mortification of seeing one of 
his own children inhumanly massacred, a shock that 
almost conquered the fortitude which he had been en- 
deavoring, from his earliest youth, to provide as a 
shield against the calamitous evils of this life. At the 
same . time a neighbor's child was made prisoner, 
he requested the good offices of McGiilevray to have 
restored. He had, last fall, stopped an excursion 
against the Cherokees, on hearing from Dr. White 
their friendly professions. He importuned McGiile- 
vray to punish the refratory part of his nation, as the 
only means of preserving peace." Here grief imper- 

*Alludiug to Frankliti. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 115 

ceptibly stole upon his mind, and poured forth itself 
in nature's simple strains. ''It is a matter of no re- 
flection," said he, '*to a brave man, to see a father, a 
son, or a brother, fall in the field of action. But it is 
a serious and melancholy incident to see a helpless 
woman or an innocent child tomahawked in their own 
houses." 

To these strong and pathetic appeals ot Col. Rob- 
ertson, McGillevray replied, that he had endeavored 
to get the Little Turkey and Bloody Fellow to refrain 
future hostilities against the whites, and that he would 
persist in measures most proper to keep the Creeks 
from further hostilities against Cumberland. 

The people of Tennessee have reason to venerate 
the memory of James Robertson, alike for his military 
and civil services, and the earnest and successful 
manner in which he conducted his negotiations for 
peace and commerce. His probity and weight of 
character, secured to his remonstrances with Indian 
and Spanish agents, respectful attention and consid- 
eration. His earnest and truthful manner was rarely 
disregarded by either. 

[1788.] One hundred men,' raised in Davidson 
and Sumner, and commanded by Col. Mansco and 
Major Kirkpatrick, escorted twenty-two families, who 
came this year by the way of the future Knoxville to 
Cumberland. These guards, to escort emigrant 
families through the wilderness, were continued 
10 



146 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

several years, and afforded them almost perfect se- 
curity from Indian disturbance. But wherever a 
house or a station was allowed to remain defenceless, 
murder and depredation followed. The Indians, 
after they killed Bledsoe, murdered one Walters, near 
Winchester's Mill. They attacked the station of 
Southerland Mayfield, upon the head of the west 
fork of Mill Creek, four miles above its junction with 
the east fork. The party consisted of ten or twelve 
Creek warriors. In the evening, they came to a 
place near the station where Mayfield^ his two sons, 
Col. Jocelyn, and another person, were making a 
wolf pen. The Indians, unperceived, got between 
them and their guns. They fired upon and killed 
Mayfield, one of his sons, and another person, a 
guard at that station. , They fired upon the guard 
and the son, as they went in the direction of the guns- 
to bring to the pen something that was there, and 
jumped over a log, from where they had lain behind 
it, to scalp them, in the presence of Mayfield and 
Jocelyn. The latter ran for his gun and got amongst 
Indians, who fired upon him and drove him back, 
pursuing him in the form of a half moon. At length 
they drove him to a very large log, over which, if he 
could not have jumped, he was completely penned. 
Beyond his own expectation, Jocelyn leaped over the 
log and fell upon, his back.. Despairing of overtak- 
ing a man of so much activity, the Indians desisted 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 147 

from any further pursuit and left him. By a circuit- 
ous route he reached the station. Mayfield was 
wounded. He was not seen or pursued by the In- 
dians, but was found next day dead. George May- 
Held was taken prisoner, and held in captivity many 
years. Satisfied with the guns apd the prisoner they 
had taken, the Indians made no assault upon the sta- 
tion, but made a hasty retreat. The people in the 
station then removed to Captain Rains, near Nash- 
ville. A mile below Mayiield's, the Indians attacked 
Brown's Station, and killed four boys — two of the 
sons of Stowball, one a son of Joseph Denton and 
the other a son of John Brown. Not long after, at 
the same station, James Haggard and his wife, John 
Haggard, and a man named Adams, were all killed. 
The people in this station then removed to Captain 
Rains. 

On the 20th January, of this year, the Indians 
killed Capt. Hunter, and dangerously wounded Hugh 
F. Bell. A party of white men pursued, and, at the 
distance of two and a half miles, came upon them 
ambuscaded. They fired upon their pursuers, killed 
Major Kirkpatrick, and wounded J. Foster and Wil- 
liam Brown. At Dunham's Station, in the spring, 

they killed Mills; in May, Dunham ; and, in the 

summer, Joseph Norrington, and another Dunham, 
near the place where Joseph Irvin's house has since 
been built, J. Cockrill was fired at and his horse 



148 PIONEEES OF NASHVILLE 

was killed. Besides these already mentioned, there 
were several others killed, whose names are not re- 
collected. HostiUties continued throughout the sum- 
mer, and Miss — — McGaughy, at Hickman's Station, 
and Hugh Webb, on the Kentucky trace, near Barren 
River, were killed by the Indians. Henry Ramsey 
was shot through the body, near Bledsoe's Creek, be- 
tween Greenfield and Morgan's Station, three or four 
miles from Bledsoe's Lick. 

[1789.] In May, Judge McNairy, with several 
others, on their way from Cumberland to what was 
then called the settleiTienis, encamped for the night in 
the wilderness west of Clinch River. Next morning 
a large company of Indians fell upon them, killing one 
white man named Stanley, a Chickasaw chief called 
Longhair, and his son. The whites were entirely 
routed, and escaped only by swimming across the 
river. They lost all their horses, and the most of 
their clothing. 

In June, the Indians made a bold attack on Rob' 
ertson's Station. It was made in the day time, while 
the hands were at work in the field. In their escape 
to the fort. Gen. Robertson was wounded. He gave 
orders to Col. Elijah Robertson to send a force imme- 
diately against the Indians who had retreated. To 
Captain Sampson Williams was this service assigned, 
who, with sixty or seventy men, convened at Gen. 
Robertson's, marched at once, pursuing the enemy 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 149 

along McCutchin's trace, up West Harper, to the 
Ridge of Duck Riven Here they discovered that 
the Indians out-travelled them. Twenty men were 
ordered to the front, to leave their horses, and to 
make forced marches upon the trail. Captain Wil- 
liams and the twenty men, one of whom was Andrew 
Jackson, pushed forward and soon came in view of 
the Indian camp, on the south side of Duck River. 
They then went up the river a mile and a half, crossed 
over it in the night, and went down its bank to the 
place the Indian camp was supposed to be. The 
cane was so thick that they could, not find the camp, 
and they lay on their arms all night. In the morn- 
ing. Captain Williams advancing about fifty yards, 
descried the Indians repairing their fires, at the dis- 
tance of one hundred yards from him. He and his 
men rushed towards them, fired at sixty yards dis- 
tance, killed one, wounded five or six, and drove the 
whole party across the river to the north side-. The 
Indians carried off their wounded and escaped, not 
taking time even to return the fire. In their flight 
they left to the victors sixteen guns, nineteen shot- 
pouches, and all their baggage, consisting of blankets, 
moccasins and leggins. They were not again overtaken. 
Near the mouth of the Sulphur Fork of Red River, 
the Indians fell upon the families of Isaac and John 
Titsworth, moving to the country. They, their 
wives and children, were all killed. 



150 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Evan Shelby, Abednego Lewellen, Kugh F. Bell, 
and Col. Tenen, were in the woods hunting. The 
two former were killed ; the two last escaped. 

In September, the Indians came to Buchanan's Sta- 
tion. John Blackburn, standing on the bank of the 
creek near the spring, was fired upon by ten or 
twelve of them at the same time He wa.s killed, 
scalped, and left with a spear sticking in his body. 

Among other emigrants from North Carolina to 
Cumberland, was the father of Col. WiUiam Pillow. 
He came through the wilderness with the guard com- 
manded by Captain Elijah Robertson, and settled four 
miles south of Nashville, at Brown's Station. The son, 
William Pillow, was in most of the expeditions car- 
ried on against the Indians, from the time of his ar- 
rival in the country to the close of the Indian war. 
He was under Capt. Rains in the tour to Elk River, 
already mentioned. He also accompanied Captain 
John Gordon in pursuit of the Indians who had killed 
a woman near Buchanan's Station. Only one of the 
savages was killed ; the rest effected their escape in 
the cane, and at night. He was also one of Captain 
Murray's company, who gave pursuit to the Indians, 
who, in February, killed John Plelin at Jonathan 
Robertson's Station, six or seven miles below Nash- 
ville, and had also stolen several horses in that neigh- 
borhood. Murray's company crossed Duck River, 
five miles below the place where Columbia now stands, 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 151 

and continued a rapid march, day and night. The 
smoke from the enemy's camp was discovered, and 
four or five spies were sent forward. Capt. Murray 
charged obliquely to the right of the camp, which 
was on the bank of Tennessee River, His left 
charged obliquely to the left, and struck the river 
above the Indian camp. The spies fired and killed 
one ; the other Indians ran down the river into Capt. 
Murray's Hne, when, finding their flight intercepted 
in that direction, they jumped into the river, and 
were shot. Mr. Maclin shot one before he got into 
the water. William Pillow, hearing a gun fire at a 
place which he had just passed, pushed his horse up 
the steep second river bank, and discovered Davis 
running towards him, pursued by four Indians. Pil- 
low dashed forward, and the Indians, discontinuing 
the pursuit of Davis, ran off" in the opposite direction. 
Pillow, pressing the pursuit too eagerly, fell from his 
horse ; but recovered, sprang to his feet, gained upon 
the Indian, and discharged the contents of his mus- 
ket into his body. At that moment, Capt. Murray, 
Thomas Cox, Robert Evans, Luke Anderson and 
William Ewing rode up, and Pillow pointed out to 
them the direction one of the Indians had gone. 
They immediately gave pursuit, and saw the Indian 
attempting to mount Pillow's horse, which he suc- 
ceeded in doing. Cox ran up and shot him through 
the shoulder. The Indian, nevertheless, held on to 



152 PIONEERS OF NASHVILLE 

Pillow's horse, and kept him in a gallop till the whole 
company came up with him. He now slipped off the 
horse, and, as he came to the ground, scared Ander- 
son's mule, which run under a low tree, whose limbs 
caught his gun and jerked it out of his hand. The 
brave Indian caught it up, snapped it three or four 
times at them, before Evans shot him down. Pursuit 
was then made by Andrew Castleman and others, 
after the two other Indians whom Pillow had driven 
from Davis. They were found hid in the water,- un- 
der a bluff of rocks ; both were killed. Others were 
found concealing themselves under the bank, and 
suffered the same fate. Eleven warriors were killed; 
the whole party, as was ascertained from the squaws 
who were taken prisoners.* 

Such were the accumulated difficulties from savage 
hostihty, undergone by the Cumberland settlements, 
in the first nine years after the arrival of Robertson at 
the Bluff. The piophecy of the sagacious Cherokee 
chief had been already fulfilled to the letter, and, still 
later, received further and stronger realization. "Much 
trouble" attended each step in the growth of the gal- 
lant community, of which the French Lick was the 
nucleus. And it may be safely said, that as the co- 
pioneers and compatriots of Robertson underwent 
trials, hardships, dangers, invasion, assault, massacre 

'•'Manuscript Narratives. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 153 

and death from Indian'warfare, unsurpassed, in degree 
and duration, in the history of any people ; so they 
were endured with a fortitude, borne with a perse- 
verance, encountered with a determination, resisted 
with a courage, and signahzed with a valor, unequal- 
ed and unrecorded. The Bluff, the stations in its 
environs, the forts in its adjoining neighbourhoods, 
each hunting excursion, the settlement of each farm 
around the flourishing metropolis of Tennessee, fur- 
nishes its tale of desperate adventure and romantic 
heroism, upon which this writer dare not here linger. 

"An Act for the Promotion of Learning in the 
County of Washington." 

Under the provision of this act the founda- 
tion of Martin Academy was laid. It is believed 
that this is the earliest legislative action taken 
anywhere west of the Alleghenies for the encourage- 
ment of learning. Jonesborough, State of Franklin, 
March ist, 1785. 

The first child born in the country was John Saun- 
ders, afterwards sheriff of Montgomery County, killed 
on White River by the Indians. The second born 
was Anna Wells. The first child born in Nashville 
was the son of Capt. Robertson- --the late venera- 
ble reHct of another age — Dr. Felix Robertson. 

The Legislature also estabhshed a town at the Bluff. 
It was named Nashville, in honor of Col. Francis 



154 PIONEERS OF NASHVILL 

Nash. He was an early advocate for resistance 
against arbitrary power — being a captain in the Reg- 
ulation war in 1771, and appointed as early as the 
24th of August, 1775, by the Congress of North Car- 
olina, as one of a committee to prepare a plan for the 
regulation, internal peace, order and safety of the 
province. To this important committee was entrusted 
the duty of proposing a system of government, which 
would supply the want of an executive officer, arising 
from the absence of Governor Martin, who had fled 
from his palace, and of submitting other subordinate 
plans of government, such as the institution of Com- 
mittees of Safety, the qualifications of electors, ' 'and 
every other civil power necessary to be formed, in .or- 
der to relieve the province in the present unhappy 
state to which the administration had reduced it." 

September ist, 1775, the North Carolina Congress 
appointed Mr. Nash, Lieutenant Colonel of the first 
regiment in the Continental service. At the battle of 
Germantown he commanded as Brigadier General, 
and at the head of his brigade, fell bravely fighting 
for the Independence of his country. Davidson and 
Nash were from the same State — bore the same rank 
in her armies — both fell in engagements that were 
unsuccessful to the American arms, but their names 
will be gratefully remembered, while the metropolitan 
county, and the metropolis itself of Tennessee, shall 
continue. 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 155 

It is tradition, that the beautiful name given to our 
State in the Convention at Knoxville, in 1796, was 
suggested by General Jackson. The members from 
the County Tennessee consented to the loss of that 
name, if it should be transferred to the whole State. 
Its principal river still retained its aboriginal name, 
and the Convention adopted it, in preference to others 
that were spoken of. In euphon}^^ and smoothness, 
it compares well with those of her sister coterminous 
States, iVlabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and 
Kentucky; and, at the same time, is more American, 
less European, than her venerable mother, Carolina, 
or Virginia and Georgia. 

'Hie Congress of the United States passed an act 
in June, 1796, admitting Tennessee into the Union. 

General James Robertson, this founder of the set- 
tlements on Watauga and Cumberland, this most suc- 
cessful negotiator between his countrymen and their 
Indian neighbors; this citizen, who so well united 
the character of the patriot and the patriarch, con- 
tinued to the close of his useful life, an active friend 
of his country, and possessed in an eminent degree, 
the confidence, esteem and veneration of all his con- 
temporaries; and his memory and services of the 
Western setdements, in peace and in war, are recol- 
lected with grateful regard by the present generation. 
He died a little earlier than his compatriot and col- 
league, Sevier. This event took place at the Chicka- 



166 PIONEERS OF NASHYILLE 

saw Agency, Sept. i, 1814. (According to Ramsey.) 
Nashville was made the Capital of Tennessee in 
1842. The Legislature met in Nashville, from 181 2 
to 1815, when it was transferred to Murfreesboro. 
Since 1826 that body has convened at Nashville, 
which became, by act of 1842, the permanent capi- 
tal. From 1794 to 1812, the Territorial Legislature, 
met often at Knoxville. 

We have thus traced the stream of emigration from 
the Atlantic to the West. We have seen a few enter- 
prising and adventurous men, clustering together on 
the banks of the remote and secluded Watauga, 
felling the forest, erecting the cabin, forming society, 
and laying the foundation of government. We have 
seen the plain and unpretending emigrant from the 
Yadkin, and his hunter associates, combining the 
wisdom and. virtue of the pioneer condition, and pro- 
viding laws and regulations suited to the wants of the 
new community around them. We have seen the 
patriotism and chivalry of the extreme western settle- 
ment, rally at the sound of danger. Leaving their 
own frontier exposed, they magnanimously returned 
to the defence of a sister colony, and on the rugged 
Kenhawa, met and repulsed the savage invader. We 
have seen Robertson negotiate an enlargement of his 
borders, and effect a peaceable extension of the set- 
ments. We have seen the fortress erected, the sta- 
tion built, and the enemy repulsed. We have seen 



AND OF TENNESSEE. 157 

armaments by land and water boldly penetrate to the 
centre of the warlike Cherokee nation, and the sol- 
diery of the Watauga bivouac upon the sources of the 
Coosa. The first settlement in Tennessee planted, 
defended, secure and prosperous, we have seen its 
founder and patriarch lead forth a new colony, 
through another wilderness, to experience upon 
another theatre, new privations, and undergo new dan- 
gers, and perform new achievements upon the remote 
Cumberland. There we v/ill leave them. 

In the eastern settlements was the cradle of the 
great State of Tennessee, where its infancy was spent 
and its early manhood formed. The vigorous shoots 
sent out from the parent stem — the colonies that have 
gone abroad from the old homestead, and peopled the 
great West — have ever been worthy of their ancestry. 
Their rapid growth and enlargement, their unexam- 
pled prosperity and achievement, are noticed with 
feehngs of parental fondness and pride. In no spirit 
of servile arrogance is the claim upon their filia 
piety asserted for veneration and regard to their 
Forefathers. Through them our proud State claims 
to be one of the ''Old Thirteen," and to be identified 
with them in the cause of Independence and Freedom. 
{Ra?nsey, Annals of Tennessee.) 



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